Bonjour, Sophie by Elizabeth Buchan
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Historical fiction
Tags: World War Two, 1950s, Paris, attempted rape, family exploration/discovery, romance, orphan, forbidden romance, self discovery, coming of age
It’s 1959, and Sophie is an orphan who, once she completes school, returns to the parsonage where she and her mother were taken on when they fled France. Her mother died when Sophie was 7, and the vicar and his wife made themselves responsible for her.
Sophie hates is there, and wants to find out about her father, whom her mother told her was a hero who died at the end of World War Two.
Sophie’s friendship with Hettie is one of the bright spots in her life.
The social pressure is very felt in this book, and Elizabeth Buchan has done a good job of evoking it. The claustrophobia of village life, where everyone knows what you’ve been up to is well portrayed.
I found sections of the book predictable, which took away some of the enjoyment.
Whilst I found this book evocative for the situations, I wasn’t as drawn into as I have been by other books by Elizabeth Buchan.
I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley, Atlantic books and Corvus, and to Elizabeth Buchan.