When grief reveals secrets, sometimes the only way forward is to start over—in France.
After her husband's sudden death, lawyer Merle Bennett discovers a shocking secret in his will: a mysterious cottage in France she knew nothing about. Reeling from betrayal and determined to secure her son's future, she does what any overwhelmed widow would do—she flies to the Dordogne to deal with it herself.
What she finds is a crumbling stone cottage, an illegal squatter, hostile locals, and a suspicious death that no one wants to discuss. Armed with her legal training and manic list-making skills, Merle tackles renovations, village politics, and her own unraveling grief.
Enter Pascal, the local roofer who's as infuriating as he is charming. He thinks she's naive. She thinks he's presumptuous. But as the cottage transforms and Merle digs deeper into her late husband's secrets, she realizes this catastrophe might be her second chance—if she's brave enough to let go of the life she thought she wanted.
A story about rebuilding after betrayal, finding strength in the ruins, and discovering that home isn't always where you started.
Perfect for readers who love:
- Widow starting over abroad
- Escape to France
- Heroine discovers husband's secrets
- Fixer-upper as metaphor for life
- Enemies-to-lovers slow burn
- Small-town mystery and suspense
- Woman finding herself after loss
“An intriguing story, a mystery with heart.”
“The characters were real and completely developed. All loose ends were tied up very nicely. This book climbed inside the main characters, flaws and all.”
“A very well written story, with characters that are interesting, likeable, and you care about them. There are dead bodies, suspense, and mystery. It's just a great story!”
From the Author
A novel has a distinct setting but it's the people who drive the action. I wanted to write about a part of France many Americans have never visited. Through the internet Americans living in France provided answers to my questions, sent me photos, became pen-pals and then friends. Generous and friendly, one new pen-pal lived in Bergerac at the time. Later she moved to Cahors then Puy-l'Évêque, and sent me missives describing her adventures. One delightful consequence of writing this novel was almost life-imitates-art when I finally met Sharon in France.
My research led me to seek out a picturesque bastide village. I used Monpazier as a home base. The village in the book, the fictional Malcouziac, is pretty but it is definitely not Monpazier. The only similarity is the structure of the bastide, the stone walls crumbling, the hilltop location surrounded by vineyards and lush, tree-tangled ravines, the narrow pedestrian streets and half-renovated houses. Without the setting the story wouldn't have come alive in my imagination. When Merle Bennett dreams of France, she remembers the light: golden, warm, nourishing. And she can't stay away, even if it makes no practical sense to use her last nickel to go there.
The village should be idyllic: sunshine, vineyards, and walls of yellow stone. Merle gets an off-the-books job as a tour guide at a local winery and evicts a squatter. But the townspeople are more than merely unfriendly. As the past unravels, colliding with modern tensions and the filthy trials of renovation, the summer takes on a dark cast, full of secrets best left buried.
Whether you look out your real window, or the one in your mind I hope Blackbird Fly brings it all to life for you. Pour a glass of wine and enjoy.
A lifelong Francophile, Lise McClendon had always wanted to write a book set in France. When a passing comment from a friend about a bicycle trip to the Dordogne sparked an interest in that region in southwest France, a mission began. Research is often the most fun part of writing a book, and when the research absolutely must be done on the ground in the wine-soaked, truffle-growing, backwoodsy province of Dordogne, fun is the word. But still there is the writing. How to take such a setting and make it come alive through the eyes of an American woman? The quest for the story through Merle Bennett, middle sister of five girls, was a delightful trip. Not all fun and games because writing, making the story work for the reader, is often fraught with landmines. Lise wanted to incorporate past stories of women who lived in the region, especially the woman who had lived in Merle's house right after World War II. A lover of family secrets, of peeling back the onion layer by layer, Lise goes deep into the past, to the desolation of the post-war era, to desperate actors, to men with nothing to lose, and women with next to nothing. The book becomes a journey of self-discovery for Merle, a driven lawyer and human rights advocate who works on housing issues for the poor. She leaves her big city life behind for the summer and finds much more than she expected: a world reborn inside her. Hope. A future without fear. Lise McClendon writes fiction from her home in Montana when not researching novels around the world.
