The Rain Watcher: A Novel

by Tatiana de Rosnay Narrated by Simon Vance

Overview

The first new audiobook in four years from the beloved superstar author of Sarah's Key, a heartbreaking and uplifting story of family secrets and devastating disaster, set against a Paris backdrop, fraught with revelations, and resolutions.

"Hypnotic, passionate, ominous and tender-unforgettable.” -Jenna Blum, New York Times and internationally bestselling author of Those Who Save Us

Linden Malegarde has come home to Paris from the United States. It has been years since the whole family was all together. Now the Malegarde family is gathering for Paul, Linden's father's 70th birthday.

Each member of the Malegarde family is on edge, holding their breath, afraid one wrong move will shatter their delicate harmony. Paul, the quiet patriarch, an internationally-renowned arborist obsessed with his trees and little else, has always had an uneasy relationship with his son. Lauren, his American wife, is determined that the weekend celebration will be a success. Tilia, Linden's blunt older sister, projects an air of false fulfillment. And Linden himself, the youngest, uncomfortable in his own skin, never quite at home no matter where he lives-an American in France and a Frenchman in the U.S.-still fears that, despite his hard-won success as a celebrated photographer, he will always be a disappointment to his parents.

Their hidden fears and secrets slowly unravel as the City of Light undergoes a stunning natural disaster, and the Seine bursts its banks and floods the city. All members of the family will have to fight to keep their unity against tragic circumstances. In this profound and intense audiobook of love and redemption, Tatiana de Rosnay demonstrates all of her writer's skills both as an incredible storyteller but also as a soul seeker.

More praise for The Rain Watcher:

“[A]n emotional tour de force and a thoughtful, deliberate examination of personal tragedy and the possibility of redemption.” - Publishers Weekly

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

★ 07/09/2018
The triumphant 11th novel from de Rosnay (Sarah’s Key) follows the unraveling of long pent-up frustrations within the Malegarde family against the backdrop of a natural disaster. Linden Malegarde, a Franco-American photographer, travels to Paris to celebrate the 70th birthday of his father, Paul. But when Paul suffers a stroke and is hospitalized, Linden decides to stay indefinitely. As Paul’s health ebbs, the river Seine floods the city, relentlessly rising due to driving rain. For Linden, the Paris he knows so well becomes “hardly identifiable, yet painfully familiar,” paralleling his own feelings and memories of his adolescence. Fearing more of the rejection and bigotry he’s experienced throughout his life, Linden, who is in his late 30s, has yet to come out as gay to his father or introduce him to his longtime partner, Sacha. During the days of unexpectedly close quarters with his father, mother, and sister, Linden begins to open up and discovers that each family member has secrets and emotional wounds just as intense as his own. Throughout, de Rosnay stokes the Malegardes’ histories with raw and powerful reminisces and gorgeous descriptions. This is an emotional tour de force and a thoughtful, deliberate examination of personal tragedy and the possibility of redemption. (Oct.)

From the Publisher

“I was mesmerized by Tatiana de Rosnay’s new novel across the ocean and back—don’t bring this book on a plane with you if you want to sleep! The Rain Watcher has something for everyone: an all-too-fathomable disaster story of the Seine swamping Paris; a family story about confronting lifelong secrets; a cautionary tale and love letter to our natural world, all told with de Rosnay’s superlative sophistication and elegance. Hypnotic, passionate, ominous and tender—The Rain Watcher is unforgettable.” —Jenna Blum, New York Times and internationally bestselling author of Those Who Save Us and The Lost Family

“The Rain Watcher is a poignant and moving story of a family in crisis. As flood waters rise in Paris, the men and women of the Malegarde clan struggle not to drown under the weight of their own secrets. Through her tender rendering of her characters, Tatiana de Rosnay demonstrates that—in spite of our burdens and our brokenness—redemption and healing are within our grasp.” —Erika Robuck, national bestselling author of Hemingway’s Girl

“A ceaseless rain, a brother, a sister, a birthday, a tree—seemingly ordinary things. But Tatiana de Rosnay’s expert storytelling proves that within life’s ordinary is the power for extraordinary change. A bonfire begins with a spark. A flood with a single drop. In similar fashion, The Rain Watcher will leave you spellbound, transformed, and swept away.” —Sarah McCoy, New York Times and international bestselling author of The Mapmaker’s Children

“Triumphant…de Rosnay stokes the Malegardes’ histories with raw and powerful reminisces and gorgeous descriptions. This is an emotional tour de force and a thoughtful, deliberate examination of personal tragedy and the possibility of redemption.” —Publishers Weekly

Praise for Tatiana de Rosnay:

“An excellent read….This outstanding biography will attract Daphne du Maurier devotees of all ages." —Library Journal (starred) on Manderley Forever

“A lush, beautifully rendered saga layered with secrets [and] scandal…. [A] brilliant pager-turner.”—BookPage on The Other Story

“Quietly elegant….Mesmerizing.” —People on The House I Loved

“Seductive, suspenseful, [a] trés formidable keeper.”—Publishers Weekly on A Secret Kept

“Masterly and compelling, it is not something that readers will quickly forget. Highly recommended.”—Library Journal (starred review) on ­Sarah’s Key

Kirkus Reviews

2018-07-31

A novel of Paris, family secrets, and catastrophic weather, from Franco-British author de Rosnay.

In Paris, the severity of flooding is traditionally measured by how close the waters of the Seine come to submerging the statue of a colonial soldier near the Pont de l'Alma. In de Rosnay's (Manderley Forever, 2017, etc.) latest novel, the river rises to the statue's waist and beyond, disrupting the weekend plans of the Malegarde family. Paul, an eminent arborist; his wife, Lauren, an American who toured Europe in the 1970s with her sister, Candice, and never left; their son, Linden, a world-renowned photographer; and daughter, Tilia, a not-so-renowned painter, meet at a hotel to celebrate Paul's 70th birthday. Rain has been unusually constant even for January (presumably 2018). Linden, whose perspective dominates, is genteelly estranged from his parents and sister. His mother could never accept his gayness, which is why he left his father's ancestral village to spend his adolescence living with Tante Candice in her 15th arrondissement apartment. Paul always reserved his most fervent emotions for trees. He suffers a stroke at his birthday dinner and is hospitalized. In view of his saintliness, it seems excessive for de Rosnay to silence him this way, with occasional cryptic diary entries and a baffling obsession with David Bowie as the only clues to his character. The family reunion is further complicated when Lauren develops pneumonia, the trauma underlying Tilia's hospital phobia surfaces, her drunken husband comes to town, and the tragedy of Candice's last days is revealed. The evocation of Paris is worthy of Modiano, and de Rosnay's projection of the city's worst deluge since 1910 is not only horrifying, but timely after the actual Seine floods of January 2018. However, the novel is long on rumination and summary, short on dialogue and forward momentum. The timing of the personal revelations seems arbitrary or, at best, anticlimactic.

The weather and Paris are the main attractions here, not the people.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171866723
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	10/30/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

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