Children of Light - Softcover

English, Lucy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1841151165 ISBN 13: 9781841151168

Publisher: Fourth Estate, 2000

Synopsis

In a small village in Provence, a woman looks back over her life from the strained relationship she had with her own mother, to the current difficulties with her own son.

Mireille is the daughter of architect Hugo Devereux and Vivienne, his beautiful immaculate Grace Kelly lookalike wife – a slave to convention where her daughter is bohemian, elegant where Mireille is messy. When Hugo embarks on a project in the South of France in the Sixties the family moves to Provence for a while and Mireille discovers La Ferrou at the end of a path through the woods, in a clearing – a massive split brooding rock beneath which is a magical pool, a natural basin in the rock.

Back in England, rebelling against Vivienne, Mireille becomes a hippy teenager and runs away, pregnant, with Gregor, her gypsy lover, to live in a hut by La Ferrou. But when, after five years, Gregor continues on to India to find his Guru and becomes a Child of Light, Mireille, penniless with their son Stephen to support, returns to England to introduce her wild little child to his conservative grandmother. However, Stephen finds an affinity with Vivienne that Mireille never had and rebels against his mother and her lovers, and her unconventional life on a houseboat in Bath.

About this title

Review:

"Children of Light is a loose, dreamy novel, drifting through two generations of family relationships. A book with which to while away a balmy afternoon on a Provencal balcony. Relax and read it." -- The Times

From the Back Cover:

Alone in a tiny stone hut in the south of France Mireille begins to write her life story. Largely ignored as a child by her fashionable parents, she was introduced to Provence when they bought a piece of land intending to transform it into a chic residence. Instead she found the hut and La Ferrou – a massive, brooding rock beneath which lies a magical pool.

Now, as spring turns to summer and the wild flowers begin to fade, Mireille confronts the series of tragedies related to her parents, her lovers and her child that have drawn her back to the strange magic of La Ferrou.

About this edition

• Publisher: Fourth Estate
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1841151165
• ISBN 13: 9781841151168
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256