Jean’s life stopped twenty-one years ago when Manon, the woman he loved, decided to disappear from his life, leaving a letter that he never dare read. He lives since like a recluse, looking after his literary apothecary, a bookshop set on a barge in Paris, where Jean recommends books like medicine to cure emotional ailments. But he then meets Catherine, opens Manon’s letter, unties his barge, and sails down the French canals to the South of France. The journey will allow letting grief blossom, finding love and asking for forgiveness. A cute story, especially when reading it just after having sailed on the canals the week before. Loads of sunshine, hope and a few tears.
“All of us preserve time. We preserve the old versions of the people who have left us. And under our skin, under the layer of wrinkles and experience and laughter, we, too, our old versions of ourselves. Directly below the surface, we are our former selves: the former child, the former lover, the former daughter.”