Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth

You know how it is when you get one of those perfect books?

The kind of book where you savour every line, every chapter, every character. The kind of book that sweeps you away to another time, another place. The kind of book that makes you sigh and cry and laugh out loud. The kind of book you hug to your chest between chapters.

The kind of book that's hard to talk about because it's so personally perfect that you want to keep it to yourself in case others don't love it as much as you.

These perfect books don't come along as often as they should or as often as they used to.

Bitter Greens was one of those perfect books for me. 

The specific elements that make up a perfect book for me have evolved over the years. And I'm sure that my idea of a perfect read will be different to yours.

However, Bitter Greens ticked all my boxes.

We have two interwoven stories; one set in France during the reign of Louis the Sun King (late 1600's) and one set in Venice in the 1590's.
One story follows the life of Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de la Force (1650-1724) and one is a retelling of the Rapunzel fairytale.

Both Charlotte-Rose and Kate Forsyth have a passion for fairytales and story-telling. This passion is sumptiously imagined on every single page of Bitter Greens.

If you love seductively good story-telling, biography dressed up as historical fiction, fairytales, strong female characters, Eurpoean history and romance then Bitter Greens will be perfect for you too.

Bitter Greens is an April release through Random House.