The Museum of Broken Promises
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Average rating3.7
Paris, today: The Museum of Broken Promises is a place of hope and loss. Every object in the museum has been donated - a cake tin, a wedding veil, a baby's shoe. And each represents a moment of grief or terrible betrayal. Laure, the owner and curator, has also hidden artefacts from her own painful youth amongst the objects on display. 1985: Recovering from the sudden death of her father, Laure flees to Prague. But she cannot begin to comprehend the dark political currents in this communist city - until she meets a young dissident musician. Her love for him, however, will have terrible and unforeseen consequences. It is only years later, having created the museum, that Laure can finally face up to her past and celebrate the passionate love which has directed her life.
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This book alternates between present day France and 1980s communist Prague. In Prague Laure is an au pair looking after two children who long to return home to Paris. Trying to find things to occupy the children and to get out of the oppressive summer heat Laure falls upon a puppet theatre. Here she meets Tomas who she falls madly in love with. Spending as much time as she can with Tomas she gets caught up in political matters where the only way she can guarantee her safety is to return home. In present day Paris Laure is a curator of The Museum of Broken Promises, a place where people donate objects that represent heartbreaking stories of broken promises and betrayal.
I loved the idea behind the novel and really enjoyed reading about the individual objects that were donated to the museum and the stories behind them. I really liked the author's writing style and the way the story alternates between the past and present. What I thought would be the main focus of the novel, the museum, actually was more of the side story which I personally found disappointing. Although I found it interesting to read about the political struggles in Czechoslovakia at that time, I also found it dominated the book more than I was anticipating and dampened my enjoyment somewhat.
I would definitely recommend this to those who enjoy historical fiction.
Thank you to Netgalley and Atlantic Books for a copy of this ebook.
