Book description
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The remnants of their separate lives, now left behind, are tentatively
unpacked into their shared apartment on the Right Bank: Bruno's heavy
blanket from Ethiopia, a set of long feathered arrows from Brazil, an
ash tray stolen from a hotel in Algeria, and Janine's flak-jacket and
canvas boots, still full of sand from the Western Desert in Iraq.
But having met in another lifetime - in another world - ordinary,
civilian life doesn't come easily. War has become part of them: it had
brought them together, and, though both are damaged by it, neither can
quite leave it behind. And the difficult journey that follows, through
their mix of joy and terror at becoming parents, Bruno's battle with
post-traumatic stress and addiction, and Janine's determination to make
France her home, leads to an understanding of the truth that people who
deeply love each other cannot always live together.
A searing, profoundly moving love letter, beautifully written, Ghosts
by Daylight
is a powerfully raw portrait of marriage and motherhood in the aftermath
of war. I>, secret trysts in foreign cities, numerous break-ups,
three miscarriages, countless stories of rebel armies and a dozen wars
that had passed between them - they arrive in Paris one rainy January to
begin a new life together.malentendu< 'Janine di Giovanni writes
with unblinking courage about war, death, marriage, motherhood, loss,
love, redemption, fear - indeed, about all the world's most pressing
risks and dangers ... Her writing here (as ever in her remarkable
career) is a great and important achievement' Elizabeth Gilbert
'Gripping and brilliantly done' The Times 'A vivid, heartfelt book that
shows the extremes of life lived to the full' Tatler 'Unashamedly
romantic, and combining quiet reflection with pacy narrative, di
Giovanni looks at love with the same clear eye she brings to war'
Economist >
The remnants of their separate lives, now left behind, are tentatively
unpacked into their shared apartment on the Right Bank: Bruno's heavy
blanket from Ethiopia, a set of long feathered arrows from Brazil, an
ash tray stolen from a hotel in Algeria, and Janine's flak-jacket and
canvas boots, still full of sand from the Western Desert in Iraq.
But having met in another lifetime - in another world - ordinary,
civilian life doesn't come easily. War has become part of them: it had
brought them together, and, though both are damaged by it, neither can
quite leave it behind. And the difficult journey that follows, through
their mix of joy and terror at becoming parents, Bruno's battle with
post-traumatic stress and addiction, and Janine's determination to make
France her home, leads to an understanding of the truth that people who
deeply love each other cannot always live together.
A searing, profoundly moving love letter, beautifully written, Ghosts
by Daylight
is a powerfully raw portrait of marriage and motherhood in the aftermath
of war. I>, secret trysts in foreign cities, numerous break-ups,
three miscarriages, countless stories of rebel armies and a dozen wars
that had passed between them - they arrive in Paris one rainy January to
begin a new life together.malentendu<
