"Featuring the beloved character from The Piano Maker, bestselling novelist Kurt Palka is back with a heart-wrenching story of courage, family, and enduring friendship.
The Autumn of Madame Hélène takes us back to the small town of St. Homais in Nova Scotia, Canada, where Hélène Giroux is dealing with many changes, among them the loss of her long-time partner, health issues, and disturbing professional difficulties.
Hélène's resilience is tested further when she and her daughter, Claire, are stalked by Claire's violent ex-husband, Thomas. As Thomas's threats escalate, certain painful choices will need to be made.
Told with mesmerizing detail and compassion, here is an engrossing story about courage and family, and about difficult decisions with life-altering consequences."
"For fans of Kristin Harmel and Martha Hall Kelly's Lilac Girls -- the bestselling author of The Piano Maker returns with a vivid, atmospheric, and deeply moving novel set during the final months of the Second World War.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
London, 1944/45: Kate Henderson is an energetic and spirited young woman. As a trained paramedic and ambulance driver she does her work courageously and with determination, even though underneath she is still wrestling with grief after witnessing the shooting death of her diplomat father seven years earlier. Her father's murder was never properly investigated and it remains unsolved.
Kate's life is interrupted once more when she wakes up one night to the sound of the air raid alarm and the terror whistles of a bomb's stabilizers screaming toward the roof of her house. Kate survives, but she is injured.
Her house is gone as well, and after her time in the hospital, Claire Giroux, a kind doctor and family friend, invites Kate to live with her as she recuperates. This arrangement works well for them until a few months later when Claire's husband comes home from the war. Within days the lives of both women are drastically altered, and events are set in motion, both in England and in Canada, that challenge Kate and Claire to their limits.
The Orphan Girl is a moving and powerful story about friendship and courage, and about promises made and kept."
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