"As a child, Kate Hamilton was packed off each summer to her grandfather's ivy-covered villa in southern France. That ancestral home, named Marthe Marie, is now crumbling, and it falls to Kate--regarded as the most responsible and practical member of her family--to return to the rugged, beautiful seaside region to confront her grandfather's debts and convince him to sell. Kate makes her living as a psychologist and life coach, but her own life is in as much disarray as Marthe Marie.

Her marriage has ended, and she's convinced that she has failed her teenaged daughter, Lily, in unforgiveable ways. While delving into colorful family history and the consequences of her own choices, Kate reluctantly agrees to provide coaching to Major Edward Soames, a British military officer suffering with post-traumatic stress. Breaking through his shell, and dealing with idiosyncratic locals intent on viewing her as an Americanized outsider, will give Kate new insight into who--and where--she wants to be.

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