Join us

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Newsletter

Valérie Perrin

Fresh Water for Flowers

Cover: Fresh Water for Flowers - Valérie Perrin

Valérie Perrin

Fresh Water for Flowers

2021, pp. 304, Paperback
ISBN: 9781787703117
Translated by: Hildegarde Serle
Region: France
Book collection: Europa B-formats
Available as ebook Available as ebook Available as ebook
£ 9.99
Where to buy Where to buy Where to buy

The book

*A NUMBER 1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER*
*OVER 1 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE*

“An appealing indulgence in nature, food and drink, and, above all, friendships.”—The Guardian

A poignant bestselling novel full of French charm and memorable characters.

Violette Toussaint is the caretaker at a cemetery in a small town in Bourgogne. Her daily life is lived to the rhythms of the hilarious and touching confidences of random visitors and her colleagues.

Violette’s routine is disrupted one day by the arrival of a local police chief, Julien Seul, who insists on depositing the ashes of his mother on the gravesite of a complete stranger. The grave Julien is looking for, and his mother’s story of clandestine love, is intertwined with Violette’s own secret past.

The funny, moving, intimately told story of a woman who believes obstinately in happiness, Fresh Water for Flowers brings out the exceptional and the poetic in the ordinary. A delightful, atmospheric, absorbing tale.


What readers are saying:

“I'd read this book over and over again”
“One of those books that you don’t want to end”
“Absolutely amazing story”
“This is one of the BEST BOOKS EVER WRITTEN!”
“A really moving story of hope love and determination”
“this is one of the most life-affirming books I have read”

The author

Valérie Perrin
Valérie Perrin was born in 1967 in Remiremont, in the Vosges Mountains, France. She grew up in Burgundy and settled in Paris in 1986. Her novel The Forgotten Sunday (2015) won the Booksellers Choice Award and the paperback edition has been long-selling best-seller since publication. Her English-language debut, Fresh Water for Flowers (Europa, 2020) won the Maison de la Presse Prize, the Paperback Readers Prize, and was named a 2020 ABA Indies Introduce and Indie Next List title. It has been translated into over thirty languages. Figaro Littéraire named Perrin one of the ten best-selling authors in France in 2019, and in Italy, Fresh Water for Flowers was the best selling book of 2020. Perrin now lives in Normandy.

Books by region

  • Cover: Madelaine Before The Dawn - Sandrine Collette

    Sandrine Collette

    Madelaine Before The Dawn

    2026, pp. 208, £ 12.99
    A spellbinding tale of female defiance and rage
  • Cover: Portrait of an Unknown Woman - Camille de Peretti

    Camille de Peretti

    Portrait of an Unknown Woman

    2026, pp. 256, £ 14.99
    A saga inspired by the incredible but true story of the iconic Klimt painting
  • Cover: The Ogre’s Daughter - Catherine Bardon

    Catherine Bardon

    The Ogre’s Daughter

    2025, pp. 280, £ 16.99
    The turbulent life story of Flor de Oro Trujillo, the eldest child of one of the world’s most brutal dictators
  • Cover: Our Precious Wars - Perrine Tripier

    Perrine Tripier

    Our Precious Wars

    2025, pp. 200, £ 14.99
    An ode to memory, and to the beauty of the natural world
  • Cover: Here, and Only Here - Christelle Dabos

    Christelle Dabos

    Here, and Only Here

    2025, pp. 240, £ 9.99
    The new novel from the million-copy bestselling author of The Mirror Visitor Quartet
  • Cover: Mona’s Eyes - Thomas Schlesser

    Thomas Schlesser

    Mona’s Eyes

    2025, pp. 300, £ 18.99
    The sensational French novel about love and beauty that has taken the world by storm

More suggestions

  • Cover: Tangerinn - Emanuela Anechoum

    Emanuela Anechoum

    Tangerinn

    2026, pp. 256, £ 14.99
    The novel for a displaced generation
  • Cover: Mass Mothering - Sarah Bruni

    Sarah Bruni

    Mass Mothering

    2026, pp. 255, £ 12.99
    A haunting, indelible novel of collective grief, resistance, and the life-affirming virtue of testimony
  • Cover: Madelaine Before The Dawn - Sandrine Collette

    Sandrine Collette

    Madelaine Before The Dawn

    2026, pp. 208, £ 12.99
    A spellbinding tale of female defiance and rage
  • Cover: Floodlines - Saleem Haddad

    Saleem Haddad

    Floodlines

    2026, pp. 350, £ 14.99
    A sweeping, multi-generational novel that traces the fractured bonds between three Iraqi-British sisters
  • Cover: Dominion - Addie E. Citchens

    Addie E. Citchens

    Dominion

    2026, pp. 208, £ 16.99
    A scorching drama full of secrets and sin
  • Cover: The Burning Origin - Daniele Mencarelli

    Daniele Mencarelli

    The Burning Origin

    2025, pp. 250, £ 14.99
    A searing story about homecoming, set in Rome