Two women of different generations, both traumatised by their own stories, forge an unlikely friendship working side by side on a farm and ultimately leading each other towards fuller lives.
The title 'Tasting Sunlight' didn't make much sense till I read the book.
Even in translation, the descriptions of nature are gorgeous. And leave one feeling as though one has been engulfed by the natural world.
No rural idyll this where all is pretty but splendid nonetheless.
Somehow, Tasting Sunlight is staying with me.
The two women: the younger one anorexic and committing self harm.
The older having stabbed her abusive husband in the chest for which she was sentenced to 8 years in gaol; she also lost touch with her son.
There were often moments in the book when I wondered if the younger woman was an apparition the older one had created in her mind for companionship, for healing. But, no, I don't think she was.
The novel ends on a cliffhanger (with the older woman moving towards contacting her son) but there really are no loose ends. It's a novel.
The friendship is so unlikely that it reminded me of another friendship in a Delphine de Vigan work. Based on a True Story, I think. It's been a while since I've read her.
Somehow, I can't get it out of my mind that maybe the younger woman isn't quite real. Or maybe she is.