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  • Hodder Paperbacks
  • Hodder & Stoughton
  • Hodder & Stoughton

The French House: The captivating and heartbreaking wartime love story and Richard & Judy Book Club pick

Jacquie Bloese

8 Reviews

Rated 0

Channel Islands, c 1939 to c 1945 (including WW2), Second World War fiction, Historical romance

A stunning, sweeping love story set against the backdrop of the German Occupation of Guernsey during World War Two.

FREEDOM WORTH FIGHTING FOR. LOVE WORTH WAITING FOR

Escape this summer with the unforgettable wartime love story and Richard & Judy Bookclub pick

'The French House is a beautifully wrought exploration of love of all kinds. It's utterly gorgeous, convincingly written and completely captivating. Make sure you read it' MY WEEKLY

'A raw and honest love story, filled with a wealth of historical detail. The French House is a powerful depiction of the brutal intricacies of island relationships and loyalties in a time of war' FIONA VALPY

'Deeply involving . . . A fantastic debut by a gifted storyteller' JILL MANSELL

*** In Nazi-occupied Guernsey, the wrong decision can destroy a life...

Left profoundly deaf after an accident, Emile is no stranger to isolation - or heartbreak. Now, as Nazi planes loom over Guernsey, he senses life is about to change forever.

Trapped in a tense, fearful marriage, Isabelle doesn't know what has become of Emile and the future she hoped for. But when she glimpses him from the window of the French House, their lives collide once more.

Leutnant Schreiber is more comfortable wielding a paintbrush than a pistol. But he has little choice in the role he is forced to play in the occupying forces - or in his own forbidden desires.

As their paths entwine, loyalties are blurred and dangerous secrets forged. But on an island under occupation, courage can have deadly consequences...

Lyrical, moving and compelling, this is a novel about wanting to hear and learning to listen - to the truths of our own hearts. Perfect for lovers of The Nightingale, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and All the Light We Cannot See.

'A story of fraught secrets and tested loyalties . . . I found this beautifully told tale hard to put down' ANITA FRANK

'Heart-wrenching . . . A truly special novel' LOUISE FEIN

'Accomplished and atmospheric . . . I really enjoyed this uncliched yet deeply moving love story' TRACY REES

'A vividly written, refreshingly different World War Two love story, with a central character I adored. Just brilliant!' GILL PAUL

'Such an emotionally gripping novel portraying how love can be betrayed yet still endure' SUZANNE GOLDRING

'
I have been swept away by Jacquie Bloese's gorgeous writing, completely transported into the rich, atmospheric, and incredibly moving pages of The French House. . . this is an absolutely stunning, beautifully original novel' JENNY ASHCROFT 'A wonderful story, powerfull

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Praise for The French House: The captivating and heartbreaking wartime love story and Richard & Judy Book Club pick

  • A brilliantly moving historical novel - 2020 Caledonian Novel Award

  • A story of fraught secrets and tested loyalties, of family and friendship, and of a love that once reignited, refuses to die. I found this beautifully told tale hard to put down.

  • A raw and honest love story, filled with a wealth of historical detail. The French House is a powerful depiction of the brutal intricacies of island relationships and loyalties in a time of war

  • A wonderful story, powerfully written with beautiful characters

  • THE FRENCH HOUSE is such an emotionally gripping novel portraying how love can be betrayed yet still endure. The backdrop is the war and the occupation of Guernsey which is fully realised, but the crux of the novel is the intriguingly complex relationships of people struggling to survive and find love.

  • Deeply involving . . . A fantastic debut by a gifted storyteller

  • Heart-wrenching . . . A truly special novel

  • An accomplished, atmospheric debut. . . deeply moving

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Jacquie Bloese

Jacquie Bloese is a writer of historical book group fiction, originally from the Channel Island of Guernsey. She draws her inspiration from atmospheric locations with intriguing histories, and people - both real and imaginary - whose stories are calling out to be told.

Her first novel The French House, set during the German Occupation of Guernsey in the second World War, was a Richard and Judy Winter 2022 book club pick, and a finalist in the Mslexia Novel Award. Her second novel The Golden Hour is inspired by the seaside town of Brighton, where Jacquie currently lives, and tells the stories of three women from different classes who become caught up in the underground world of erotic photography in 1890s Victorian England.

Jacquie began her professional life teaching English, in Turkey and Spain, before returning to the UK to work in ELT publishing for a number of publishers, including Scholastic, Oxford University Press and Penguin Random House. She now works freelance as an educational consultant, writer and editor.

In her spare time, Jacquie loves reading, walking, socialising, travel, theatre, cinema and daydreaming!

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