The Winter Guest (Karen Swan)

The book presentation

In a grand villa on the shores of Lake Geneva, Dulcie’s grandmother nears the end of her glamourous and eventful life. The days pass quietly to the reassuring tick of the Swiss clock – until a visitor comes to their door…

1961
In the streets of Paris, Lise Erlach is in love. Twenty-two years old, the beautiful young Ambassador’s wife enjoys the very best the city has to offer: glittering receptions, a magnificent residence and an address book filled with the numbers of the Parisian elite. She is wanted at every party…and by one man above all. Their affair dazzles them both but in a distant sea, a crisis is brewing that will change their paths forever.

Present day
As snow falls upon the Alps, Dulcie sits by her grandmother’s bed, undisturbed until the visitor arrives. He says he must tell her grandmother something urgently – something that will make Dulcie realise the beloved old woman before her is a complete stranger… With deep family secrets unlocked, can she get the answers she needs before time runs out?

My reading experience

I really enjoyed this winter book by Karen Swan.
The story is complicated and very well developed over the whole book, with everything being revealed at the end. It is a dual timeline story which brings us back to the early sixties, mostly in Paris but also in Geneva and with the background of the world political situation at the time. This first timeline tells the story of Lise, married to Valentin, posted in Paris as Swizz Ambassador. Lise gets caught in a complicated political and a love tangle which she did not realise would have a major impact on her life. The second timeline is now in 2026 when Dulcie, Lises’s granddaughter, spends the last days of Lise’s life with her and tries to understand what happened in the past. The present time is around Christmas, but this is not one of your gooey and chocolatey Christmas books. There is a nice Christmas ending though.
I thought the writing around Lise’s dementia and how she has these last conversations with her granddaughter was superb. My mum has dementia and many of the thoughts and conversations resonate with me. What we wish we had asked before they could not remember, still giving happiness and comfort and living the grief over a period of time. This was a very poignant part of the book.
The society in the 60s in France is also well researched and written.
At the end of the story one wonders what would have happened if Lise had acted differently back in the 60’s, and some of the other characters around her like Leo or Wagstaff. Sometimes, a small decision, a small act, will have a huge impact on a life . Secrets kept and all the unsaid can make it even worse, and that’s really the heart of the story.
I read this book ever so quickly. I could not stop. It was a really great read.

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers | Penguin and the author for giving me a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

You can see some of the inspiration behind the book by looking up Karen Swan’s Instagram and her Facebook page.

I loved the promotional video too!