The Swimming Pool - Hardcover

Paige, Frances

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0727822713 ISBN 13: 9780727822710

Publisher: Severn House, 1999

Synopsis

A powerful story of heartache, friendship ... and trust

For three years, Miranda and Ben Stanstead lived an idyllic, sunshine existence in the south of France along with close friends Chloe and Rick Gillam. Then, in a freak accident Ben is killed, and soon after Miranda loses their baby and with it, her last link with a beloved husband.

Devastated, Miranda abandons their house in Melloir and buries herself in academic research back in London, retaining only intermittent contact with the past through Chloe's letters. Helped by colleague Chris Balfour, Miranda gradually begins to cope with her grief, but when Chloe's letters suddenly dry up, she is puzzled, then concerned when Rick starts writing to her instead.

Piece by piece a different picture emerges of her closest friend: Chloe the depressive, vengeful, envious and cold-hearted woman. Can this be true? Whom should she believe? And then the terrible news: Chloe is dead, found drowned in the Gillam's swimming pool, and she, Miranda, must return to France to find out the truth ...

About this title

About the Author

Frances Paige won the Romantic Novelists Award in 1974 for her book Vote for a Silk Gown. Since then she has written many more novels, mostly set in either Scotland or France, all of which have been hugely popular.

From Booklist

When her friend Chloe dies suddenly, Miranda returns to France to comfort Chloe's husband, Rick, but after realizing that the things Rick tells her about Chloe conflict with what she hears from others in their small town, she soon finds herself wondering if Chloe's death really was a tragic accident. And if it wasn't, she worries, was Rick involved? Paige draws her readers in slowly but surely as they share Miranda's growing unease and as what seemed like a peaceful jaunt in the French countryside turns into something far more menacing, tense, and dramatic. Paige's characters are subtly yet deftly rendered. There's the doctor who cannot leave his ill wife, even for the love of a young American; the couple who owns the small restaurant; the young man who takes care of Miranda's garden; and the elderly woman Miranda meets briefly but who has a strong influence on her. A liberal sprinkling of French phrases give Paige's engrossing tale of a small-town tragedy a definite continental flavor. Ann Bouricius

Edition details

• Publisher: Severn House
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0727822713
• ISBN 13: 9780727822710
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 224