The Pleasing Hour

A New York Times Notable Book

The Pleasing Hour, the debut novel by Lily King, is a profoundly moving story of family, betrayal and the naivety of youth.

Young, inexperienced and fleeing a terrible personal loss, Rosie travels to France to become an au pair to the Tivot family. Nicole, the cool, distant and beautifully polished mother of the three children she cares for is impossible to connect with - there is something about the woman that both fascinates and unnerves Rosie.

The same is true of the rest of the Tivot clan. Nicoles husband, Marc, and their children all seem to be caught in an unending struggle against each other for love and acceptance. Only when Rosie is sent to care for Nicoles now-elderly guardian the storyteller of the familys secrets does she finally discover the truth. There, Rosie will learn of a past darkened by war, duplicity and a tragedy that still resonates in the Tivots lives.