Valérie Perrin Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Valerie Perrin is a famous French author and novelist. She is well known for writing cultural, contemporary, romance, and adult fiction stories. Some of her most popular books include Sunday Forgotten, Fresh Water for Flowers, 24 Hours Together, Three, etc. Author Perrin was born on January 19, 1967, in Remiremont, France. In addition to being a prominent novelist, she also works as a screenwriter and still photographer. In her screenwriting projects, she works along with her companion named Claude Lelouch. Perrin made her debut in the field of publishing with her 2015 novel called Sunday Forgotten. Originally written in French, the book was later translated for the English audience. It has received many awards, including the 2016 Lire Elire award and the 2016 Poulet-Malassis award.

Following its grand success all over France, the novel was published in Italy in 2016 and a year later in Germany. In 2018, Perrin won the Maison de la Presse award for her second book. The success of Fresh Water for Flowers allowed Perrin to get recognized by readers outside France, Germany, and Italy. It helped her establish herself as a noteworthy non-English author of contemporary romance stories. The thing that inspired her to write this book was a cemetery. Perrin has a distinct vision of cemeteries. She likes to see them as a garden of sous. Perrin was particularly attracted to the words of love written on the headstones, the flowers, the photos, the mystery, etc. She was looking for a medium to transfer these emotions. Fortunately, she came up with the idea of a guard of a cemetery and a woman came to her mind and it worked wonders for her. Perrin found it extraordinarily romantic and presented it in the same way in the book.

To come up with the starting point of the story, she described the narrator as a lady who has been living a lonely life for the past 19 years after her husband left her without saying anything. Perrin completed the manuscript in two years and enjoyed every bit of the extraordinary experience of writing about the main character Violette Toussaint. Whenever Perrin opened her computer every day to continue writing her story, she found herself drawn closer to her and felt her feeling. Most of the readers in Perrin’s fanbase are women. So, she hopes that this book would attract them first, and then they will pass it on to their husbands. Based on the messages she has received from across the globe, Perrin is happy to know that she has touched the lives of readers from the age of 16 and over a hundred.

Author Perrin sees Fresh Water for Flowers as a story that mixes genres, drama, love stories, resilience, reconnection with nature, police investigation, poetry, and simplicity. She also believes this book is about appearances. Perrin takes great pride in knowing that her book has helped many readers repair themselves. Particularly, the readers who have a soft spot for mourning in their hearts, this novel is able to reconcile them with their loved ones who are not with them anymore. The book’s translation into English was carried out by Hildegarde Serle, who has also done a wonderful job. She understood every emotion described in French by Perrin and suitably translated them into English.

Perrin likes to give credit for her success as a still photographer to Claude Lelouch. It was only after meeting him that she was motivated by him to continue pursuing still photography along with her writing interests. When Claude came across what Perrin was writing, he was very impressed by her talent. He praised her to keep writing and also co-wrote a few scripts for her. Perrin says that she always wanted to be a novelist and was quite passionate about it. But, when she realized that it was getting hard for her to make a living by writing, she decided to look for other options. That is how screenwriting and photography came into the picture.

As of today, Perrin lives with her family in Paris. She spends most of her time writing manuscripts of her novels. She wants to continue doing it for many more years to come and hopes that her fans will keep supporting her always. Author Perrin considers herself blessed and fortunate to have found the path of writing and prays that she always remains true to her talents and never strays from the path.

An excellent book penned by author Valerie Perrin in her career is entitled ‘Sunday Forgotten’. It was released by the Albin Michel publication in 2015. This book features the lead characters in the form of Helene and Justine. Initially, Justine is introduced as a 21-year-old girl who loves old people. Helene is almost 5 times the age of Justine and always had the dream of learning how to read. Justine sometimes visits the retirement home where Helene lives and reads out stories to the old people. Most of the time, she would find Helene, sit beside her, and talk to her. The 2 women would reveal different stories of their lives to each other and listen to one another. One day, trouble is caused in the old-age home by a mysterious crow. It causes the sheltering of the confidences of Helene and Justine. Later, a shocking secret is revealed and nothing remains as it was before. This novel is melancholy and funny and is an interesting romance of the present and past dazzling loves. This book went on to entertain a large number of readers in France and other countries. They liked it and gave excellent reviews on various literary platforms. Also, a number of prominent critics came forward to praise the book and appreciate the efforts of Perrin in coming up with such an interesting story. Perrin also received praise from her fellow writers for this novel.

Another wonderful book written by Perrin is known as ‘Fresh Water for Flowers’. It was published in 2017 by Europa Editions. Perrin has set this book in a small town in France called Bourgogne and has mentioned the primary characters in the roles of Violette Toussaint and Julien Sole. The novel opens by introducing Violette Toussaint as the caretaker of a cemetery in Bourgogne. She is often visited by regular visitors, sundry colleagues, casual mourners, groundskeepers, a priest, and gravediggers. All these visitors come to Violette’s lodge for warming themselves. The meetings often result in companionship, occasional tears, and laughter. Violette thinks she is living her life to the moving, funny rhythms of the visitors. One day, her routine gets disrupted by Julien Sole’s arrival. Julien is the local chief of police and he insists that the ashes of her recently dead mother be scattered on a stranger’s gravesite. Later, it is learned that the inexplicable gesture of Julien Sole is intertwined with the difficult past of Violette Toussaint.