Clarissa is a successful author who has just left her second husband and is looking for a place to stay. By accident, she gets selected for a spot in a new apartment complex destined for artists. This apartment is built in the new neighbourhood that has risen from the ashes of a terrorist attack on the Eiffel Tower. After a few weeks, Clarissa notices some strange things in her new home. There are cameras everywhere (except on the toilet), her personalized virtual assistant seems to know her deepest fears and at night her dreams are haunted with a strangely familiar voice. Together with her granddaughter Andy they start an investigation. Are they really being watched? And by who?
Tatiana De Rosnay is my favorite novelist. I always pick up her books, regardless of the topic. The premise of ‘Flowers of darkness‘ didn’t grab my attention at first as artificial intelligence isn’t a topic I’m used to reading about. But once I started, I discovered all the familiar De Rosnay elements are there. A mother recovering from a loss, a small family with their problems and secrets, a bilingual main character who’s also a writer, Paris…
Yes this is a story about the near future where Europe is recovering from a range of awful terrorist attacks, from the Brexit (not so science fiction), from the bee extinction and a sea level rise. It’s an awful future, where people are competing with robots. But not everything is so different in this story. There is love and there is loss. I loved the side characters from her first husband Toby, over her English father to the heartwarming neighbour who befriends Clarissa. And of course, there’s Andy, Clarissa’s angel.
A part of the story is also about Clarissa’s research into the lives of the writers Virginia Woolf and Romain Gary. And the parallels with her own struggles. The mystery element of the apartment is build up but open for interpretation at the end. I had no problem with that. You constantly wonder if Clarissa really sees and hears those things or if it’s just her imagination working.
I finished this book in two sittings. That’s very rare. And it’s just because I enjoy her writing so much. Reading De Rosnay is like wrapping myself in my favourite blanket. This might not be her best, but it still has much to like. I highly recommend to read one of her books.
Who’s your favourite novelist?
In Another Era 
I don’t know Tatiana De Rosnay’s work, but this one sounds a bit too depressing for me, I’m afraid.
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I can understand that, it’s a scary future she sets for us.
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