My next library book La Tempête was a romance; a love story where two people are thrown together as a result of an unusual event. The event in question is the title of the book. Perhaps there will be more stories like this as a result of climate change, but in this novel published in 2003 there is no hint that the tempest was caused by the result of a warming climate. I don't read many romances, but I am always liable to stumble on one when taking library books out randomly.

Grace and her husband Christopher are two Americans who have spent much of their working lives in Europe. Grace was a pupil of Christopher before they were married, they are both well to-do especially Christopher who is well connected. They are holidaying in France travelling towards a chateaux deep in a forest when a tempest strikes pushing their car into a ravine. Grace climbs out uninjured, but Christopher is trapped with a broken ankle. The tempest has destroyed the forest and Grace embarks on a perilous journey to find help. She reaches a small hamlet deep in the forest which has suffered much damage, where she meets Thomas who is frantically trying to make the roof of a small chapel water-tight. Grace persuades Thomas to help her rescue Christopher and they must spend some days trapped in the hamlet which has no running water and now no electricity.

Having experienced a tempest here deep in the French countryside the scenario rings true enough. It may well take the EDF several days to reach a hamlet after a severe storm and it is likely that people who live in an isolated village will be fairly self-sufficient. Grace and Christopher are travelling in deep winter when temperatures can stay below freezing point and coping with the cold can be hard work without power. Jean-Guy Soumy creates a very realistic scenario and I am glad I read this book in summer time. Soumy also does well with the characters who live in the hamlet, but stretches credibility when he smoothes over the difference in cultures between the uninvited guests and the local residents: necessary for a love story to develop I suppose. He does treat the story with some sensitivity and it held my interest well enough. 3.5 stars. ( )