The Pleasing Hour - Paperback

by Lily King (Author)

Lily King's highly acclaimed, award-winning debut novel is the story of Rosie, an American au pair in Paris whose coming of age defies all our usual conceptions of naïveté and experience. Rosie is fleeing an unspeakable loss that has left her homesick for her family. As she awkwardly grasps for the words to communicate with and connect to Nicole, the cool, distant, and beautifully polished mother of the three children she cares for, Rosie's bond with the patriarch of the household develops almost too naturally. When Lola, the middle child, begins to suspect an indecent intimacy between Rosie and her father, Rosie moves to the south of France to care for Nicole's elderly guardian, the storyteller of the family's secrets. There, she discovers a past darkened by war and duplicity, and finally comes to understand the tragedy behind Nicole's elusive demeanor.

Author Biography

Lily King is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels--Heart the Lover, Writers & Lovers, Euphoria, Father of the Rain, The English Teacher, and The Pleasing Hour--as well as the story collection Five Tuesdays in Winter. Her work has won numerous prizes and awards, including the Kirkus Prize, the New England Book Award, the Maine Book Award, and a Whiting Award; has been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Story Prize; and has been longlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Joyce Carol Oates Prize. Her books have been translated into thirty-two languages. She lives in Portland, Maine.