Annie Perreault

The Woman in Valencia is a Staff Recommended book at the Chicago Public Library this month (August 2022). I took it out of the library, though, because it takes place in my favorite international city, Valencia, Spain. It was originally written in French by Annie Perreault in 2018 and translated into English by Ann Marie Boulanger in 2021. It was published by QC Fiction, the Canadian imprint that specializes in translating French fiction into English.

The publisher's summary:

While on vacation with her family in Valencia, Claire Halde witnesses a shocking event that becomes the catalyst for a protracted downward spiral and a profound personal unravelling as she struggles to come to grips with her role in the incident. This haunting novel, which unfolds across three timelines set in as many decades, takes the reader on a dark journey through the minds of three women whose pasts, presents, and futures are decided by a single encounter on a scorching summer afternoon.

Every published review of this novel that I have seen has highly rated it. However, I did not like it much. It was hard to get into and I restarted reading it about 4 times. The plot concerns Claire's obsession with a suicide that she witnessed in the rooftop pool of the hotel where she was staying in Valencia. We primarily read about Claire's internal thoughts whether she should have intervened and why she did not intervene. Claire kept the bag that the victim had with her at the pool and brought it with her when she returned to Valencia a few years later. Here, Claire dyes her hair blonde and assumes a Russian name. It was difficult to figure this out because Claire's internal thoughts about the Russian blonde made it seem that this was a different character. Herein lies the problem that I had with this book. It was near impossible to figure out the difference between plot action and Claire's thoughts. I also question whether there was any plot action at all.

I cannot give this book a rating. In fact, I don't even know what genre it is and cannot figure out why this book is so highly rated.… (meer)