Novel set in Biarritz (A Story of Enduring Faith and Friendship_

• Book: Two Days in Biarritz
• Location: Biarritz, Dublin
• Author: Michelle Walsh Jackson

Review Author: tripfiction

The dramatic coast of Biarritz, a world-renowned destination in the south of France, drinks in a bistro flowing like the mighty Atlantic crashing on the beach, young, hunky surfers chatting up two gals meeting to celebrate a birthday in style, all the elements are in place in the novel “Two Days in Biarritz,” for one heck of a raucous time. Childhood friends Annabel and Kate each have their reasons for escaping into a world that feels an ocean away from their lives at home. Here in this resort town where no one knows them, they only have to account to themselves–and sometimes to each other for their free-spirited love adventures.

All’s well and carefree with their perfect girls getaway until Annabel spills a secret in an alcohol-induced fog. The information she reveals changes the course of her friendship with Kate, an artist and sensitive type, who in many ways is like a sister to her. Annabel retreats to her suburban life in Ireland while Kate heads back to her more Bohemian existence in the Pyrenees Mountains of southwest France. What ensues is a series of challenges and changes for both when their personal lives crack and crumble. Each experiences her own form of transformation, reinventions of self that many a reader has been through, too. Through it all, they long for the comfort and familiarity of each other’s presence, for the friendship they had known for most of their lives and now live without.

As Annabel sorts out the ruinous effects of a terrible marriage and Kate deals with the death of a loved one, the story takes place largely back in Ireland where a good cup of tea does little to remedy their woes. Yet, just like most of us gals, they find out how to make it through it all, spirit and friendship well intact.

I enjoyed “Two Days in Biarritz” for its depiction of female friendship and the everlasting bond that exists between old friends, no matter how long of a gulf of silence exists between. Women, relationships, love, marriage, divorce, birth, death–the complexities of most of life’s biggest themes are all touched upon in this story that reaches far beyond two days in Biarritz.

Maribeth Clemente reviewed Two Days in Biarritz for TripFiction. The original post first appeared on our blog

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