“The lantern” by Deborah Lawrenson jumps between two central storylines—that of Eve, a beautiful young woman living in a Provence house with an intriguing history alongside her new husband Dom, an ideal lover whose façade begins to crack as eve tries to figure out why he keeps the destiny of his former wife secret---and that of Benedicte, a former resident of the house Eve currently resides in, and the sister of a blind perfumer, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances at the peak of her success. While the core of the plot is two different mysteries, what really impressed me about this book was the beautiful writing, which really makes the scenery come alive. Some of the descriptions are really breathtaking. I’ve never been in Provence, but reading Lawrence’s descriptions really made me want to go there. I savored the writing, and was intrigued enough by the two mysteries to finish the book in two days. I found this to be a very well written novel. Published by Harper. August 2011. 400 pages. List price $25.99
