Apa proaspata pentru flori

Violette Toussaint runs a cemetery. It lies in a small town in Burgundy. Those who grieve seek warmth in her office. So do staff and those who come often. Gravediggers, caretakers and a priest join her for coffee. They share jokes and grief, and form bonds of friendship. They tell their own private stories, too. These talks give her days a calm, steady rhythm.

Then Julien Seul arrives. He is a police commissioner from Marseille. He wants to scatter his late mother's ashes on a stranger's grave. This strange wish breaks the pattern of Violette's days. Soon, it shows links to her own tangled past.

Valerie Perrin's novel looks closely at loss and hope. It takes a personal view of these themes. Its main figure still trusts that life can bring joy. She holds that trust despite life's setbacks.