Beautiful Nights

In the immersive latest from George (The Little Paris Bookshop), an unhappily married woman discovers an unexpected connection with her son’s girlfriend during a summer on the northern coast of France. Claire Cousteau, a 44-year-old psychology professor, lives in Paris with her unfaithful husband, Gilles, and carries on her own affairs. At a hotel with a lover one afternoon, she’s captivated by the sound of a cleaning woman’s singing (“Like a woman dancing in the dark as if no one were watching”) and briefly meets the woman in the hallway. That night, she goes home to meet her 21-year-old son Nicolas’s new girlfriend, Julie Beauchamp, for dinner. There, Claire is startled to recognize Julie as the cleaner from the hotel. Gilles, unaware of the tension, invites Julie to join the family in Trévignon for the summer, where Claire teaches Julie to swim and the women forge an increasingly intense bond as they share secrets with one another. George’s fluid and lyrical prose carries the reader along as the story alternates from languid scenes to heavy emotions. It’s a worthy choice for the beach bag. Agent: Cecile Barendsma, Cecile B Literary. (July)