Title: Ariadne's Testament - Françoise Bourdin - book
Summary :
In the Landes region, the story of a large family of forestry loggers in decline, victims of the resin industry crisis. The death of a relative and an unexpected inheritance will shake up the clan's unity, which had so far been preserved despite life's ups and downs.
Winner of the 2011 Three Crowns Prize - French Novel Prize
Finalist Award The Mountain/Land of France 2011
Born into a family of former resin collectors in the Landes region, Ariane Nogaro, widowed and childless, decides to put her affairs in order and writes her will. She hardly sees her older brother, a retired professor, nor her sister-in-law, the couple not appreciating her originality and way of life. Only Anne, one of her nieces, has formed an affectionate and close bond with her. Married to a veterinarian and mother of a twelve-year-old boy, the young woman leads a harmonious but unpretentious life, between her work as a home accountant and her weekly visits to her aunt. Until the day Ariane suddenly dies...
Against all odds, Anne inherits all her possessions, including a large property nestled between forest and ocean, the birthplace of the Nogaro family. But this event brings back jealousies and resentments, and disrupts the family unit that has been preserved until now. What should she do with this house that holds so many memories? Sell it? Or, on the contrary, move in, as Anne would like despite her husband's flat refusal? Does she have the right to jeopardize her relationship and break up with her family for an inheritance?
