2nd September 2010

Catalogue > Fiction

The House with Blue Shutters

Lisa Hilton

An evocative first novel about forbidden love and the power of secrets, set between Occupied France and the modern day.

CASTROUX, FRANCE, 1939. In a bare farmhouse on a windswept plain above the village, Oriane, orphaned at thirteen, lives in desperate poverty. When the Germans invade, Oriane finds work in a Nazi barracks while her fiancé joins the Resistance. Their simple world is thrown into chaos. Casual brutality is common; rebellion is imminent; revenge will be swift and severe.

CASTROUX, FRANCE, 2000. In an idyllic gîte overlooking the quaint village church, British expat Aisling frets about her chocolate parfait, determined to impress her brother-in-law’s glamorous fiancée Claudia. But Claudia couldn’t care less about chocolate parfait. She’s pregnant by another man and terrified of the future. She confides only in an elderly neighbour, Oriane, and discovers that she too once carried a shameful secret – from which she still bears the scars.

THE HOUSE WITH BLUE SHUTTERS. A place that has witnessed the horrors of wartime, the petty concerns of peacetime, and the secrets that bind past and present. A place where history echoes off every wall…

About the author

After reading English at Oxford, Lisa Hilton studied history of art in France and Italy. Since the, she has freelanced for Vogue, Harpers, The New York Times and the national broadsheets, and is the author of several critically acclaimed works of non-fiction. She has also written and presented programmes for the BBC. She lives between London and the South of France

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