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Book Summary and Reviews of The House I Loved by Tatiana de Rosnay

The House I Loved by Tatiana de Rosnay

The House I Loved

by Tatiana de Rosnay

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  • Published:
  • Feb 2012, 240 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Paris, France: 1860's. Hundreds of houses are being razed, whole neighborhoods reduced to ashes. By order of Emperor Napoleon III, Baron Haussman has set into motion a series of large-scale renovations that will permanently alter the face of old Paris, moulding it into a "modern city." The reforms will erase generations of history - but in the midst of the tumult, one woman will take a stand.

Rose Bazelet is determined to fight against the destruction of her family home until the very end; as others flee, she stakes her claim in the basement of the old house on rue Childebert, ignoring the sounds of change that come closer and closer each day. Attempting to overcome the loneliness of her daily life, she begins to write letters to Armand, her beloved late husband. And as she delves into the ritual of remembering, Rose is forced to come to terms with a secret that has been buried deep in her heart for thirty years. The House I Loved is both a poignant story of one woman's indelible strength, and an ode to Paris, where houses harbor the joys and sorrows of their inhabitants, and secrets endure in the very walls...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Replete with treats, particularly for Paris-lovers - indeed for anyone wedded to a special place." - Kirkus Reviews

"I'm a Paris nut, so of course I'll read this, but the combination of de Rosnay's popularity and the subject matter - our attachment to home, something felt keenly at this time of foreclosures - truly recommends this book." - Library Journal

"Though bestseller de Rosnay's epistolary narrative is slow to build, it's fraught with drama..." - Publishers Weekly

This information about The House I Loved was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Tatiana de Rosnay Author Biography

Tatiana de Rosnay was born on September 28th, 1961 in the suburbs of Paris. She is of English, French and Russian descent.  Her father is French scientist Joël de Rosnay, her grandfather was painter Gaëtan de Rosnay. Tatiana's paternal great-grandmother was Russian actress Natalia Rachewskïa, director of the Leningrad Pushkin Theatre from 1925 to 1949.
 
Tatiana's mother is English, Stella Jebb, daughter of diplomat Gladwyn Jebb, and  great-great-granddaughter of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the British engineer. Tatiana is also the niece of historian Hugh Thomas.  Tatiana was raised in Paris and then in Boston, when her father taught at MIT in the 70's. She moved to England in the early 80's and obtained a Bachelor's degree in ...

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Author Interview
Link to Tatiana de Rosnay's Website

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