Bonjour, Sophie

by Elizabeth Buchan

It's 1959 and eighteen-year-old Sophie is determined that now is the time for her real life to start. Her existence in the village of Poynsdean, Sussex, with her austere foster-father, the Reverend Osbert Knox, and his frustrated wife Alice, is stultifying. She finds diversion and excitement in a love affair, but soon realizes that if she wants to live life on a bigger canvas she must take matters into her own hands.

She dreams of escape to Paris, the Wartime home her French mother fled before her birth. Getting there will take spirit and ingenuity, but also offers the chance to discover more about her family background, and perhaps find a place where she can finally belong.

When Sophie eventually arrives in the city of her dreams it's both everything she imagined, and not at all what she expected.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, France

396 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 4, 2024

About the author

Elizabeth Buchan began her career as a blurb writer at Penguin Books after graduating from the University of Kent with a double degree in English and History. She moved on to become a fiction editor at Random House before leaving to write full time. Her novels include the prizewinning Consider the Lily – reviewed in the Independent as ‘a gorgeously well written tale: funny, sad and sophisticated’. A subsequent novel, Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman became an international bestseller and was made into a CBS Primetime Drama. Later novels included The Second Wife, Separate Beds and Daughters. Her latest, I Can’t Begin to Tell You, a story of resistance in wartime Denmark, was published by Penguin in August 2014.

Elizabeth Buchan’s short stories are broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and published in magazines. She reviews for the Sunday Times and the Daily Mail, and has chaired the Betty Trask and Desmond Elliot literary prizes, and also been a judge for the Whitbread First Novel Award and for 2014 Costa Novel Award. She is a patron of the Guildford Book Festival and of The National Academy of Writing, and sits on the author committee for The Reading Agency.

Reviews

[Ceecee · Rating 5 out of 5]

In June 1959, Sophie Morrel leaves the stultifying atmosphere of Digbys Boarding School with a rebellious sigh of relief, and no qualifications of note. She has to return to the village of Poynsdean in Sussex to the rectory of the austere Reverend Osbert Knox and his wife Alice, who are her foster parents and to a dull, dismal future. Sophie dreams of more, she dreams of Paris, inspired by the stories her late mother Camille tells her. Camille flees France, pregnant, during the Second World War and is taken in by the Knoxs. How can Sophie get there? She has no funds she can access, zero encouragement, but what she has got is ingenuity. Can she escape her gloomy present, and become her true self?

I’ve enjoyed Elizabeth Buchan’s books for years now as she writes with wit and energy, and with devastatingly astute sentences that sum up situations to perfection. In a few broad strokes, we view the awfulness of Digbys and the Sussex rectory, poor Sophie. She is an orphaned square peg in a round hole in that environment. There are some vivid descriptions of creepy Osbert, who, for a vicar has very little kindness of heart. As for Alice, although I grow to feel for her just a little, lazy dissatisfaction sums her up, but she has the unerring ability to wound. Sophie herself is a fascinating character, I admire her from the very start, especially her independence of spirit as she bucks against the 1959 strictures for girls. At times it feels more like 1859, and Sophie is out of step.

The author captures the times, the expectations or lack of, and the small village attitudes and the disapproval, especially of her French background. However, she does find something good mixed in with the pursed lips, which, although it brings sadness. Ultimately, it also incentivises and awakens something in her. The novel is very insightful on the still reverberating impact of the Second World War, particularly the broken lives, and this is especially evident when the storytelling switches to Paris, where its effects are also visible. These parts of the novel are so atmospheric, its recent history proves highly relevant to Sophie as she investigates her background. Here she begins to gain her true identity, to learn exactly who Sophie Morrel is. She meets some very colourful characters along the way who help her to connect to the past.

This wonderful novel of an independent girls search for her sense of self encompasses a lot along the bumpy journey. She encounters love and loss, sadness and disappointment, occasional horror at the actions of others, as she learns the strange ways of the world. The author has me totally wrapped up in Sophie‘s life, egging her on and wishing her only the best, and with a sinking heart at the downturns. I love the ending, it finishes on such a good note and sums up one very key incident in her life and makes me smile. This is an immersive read from start to finish. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Atlantic Books, Corvus, for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fifteen years might seem a long time after the end of the Second World War but in fact its impact lingers on, as the author deftly explores in Bonjour, Sophie. For some, like Sophie’s foster mother Alice, war had been so much a battle for survival that even the slim pickings of life offered afterwards are, if not enough, then better than nothing. For others, there are physical scars but also mental scars from the things they saw and the things they were forced to do in order to survive.

Along with her dream of a more fulfilling and independent life, Sophie harbours a deep need to know about her father, a man she never met, including how he died. Was he the hero of the French Resistance she has always believed him to be?

Having made it to Paris, her first job involves contact with people who also looking for someone but for quite different reasons. She describes them to her friend Hettie as ‘drenched in yearning’. Her own search for answers involves some subterfuge, as well as ignoring the warnings that she may not like what she finds out. ‘War triggers vendettas. Paris was, and is, not exempt. Asking questions exposes secrets, and some are best left hidden.’ A brief glimpse of a more luxurious lifestyle proves tempting but, she realises, would bring the sort of obligations and constraints she has set her face against.

Paris offers Sophie myriad new experiences which help to banish, albeit not completely, memories of the disappointments, losses and unpleasant experiences of her life in Sussex. Yet even here, the buildings carry the marks of conflict. ‘The war was over. The war was not over. Peeling paint. Damaged stonework.’

Sophie makes a spirited and engaging heroine. She’s intelligent, witty and once she has decided on a course of action she is resolute – and resourceful – in following it through. I also liked the storyline involving Sophie’s friend and confidante, Hettie, who belatedly embarks on her own journey from the constraints of parental and societal expectations.

Bonjour, Sophie is an engaging, nuanced coming-of-age story that captures a world on the cusp of social change and I very much enjoyed spending time with Sophie on her journey.

[Pauline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sophie has always wanted to go to Paris because of the stories her mother told of her childhood.
When finally her dreams come true and she arrives in Paris she finds that settling there is a challenge and not what she was expecting.
A slow moving coming of age story.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atlantic Books for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Kaytee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the sound of this tale but couldn’t get past the authors ego and pretentious writerly writing style. It’s was like ‘look at me - what a clever writer I am ‘ ‘ look how clever with words I am’ and so on.
Urgh.
Just tell the story can’t you.
DNF

[J A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably 3.5 stars rather than 4 because I found the ending abrupt and disappointing.
I needed to know how Hettie and Sophie's lives progressed in more detail, not just a very short epilogue 30 years later.
Liked most of the place descriptions, and development of characters.

[LindyLouMac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elizabeth Buchan has been a favourite author mine for over twenty years. I have a particular soft spot for her as she was born in Guildford, Surrey not that many miles from my own birthplace Dorking. In fact Dorking gets a mention in ‘Bonjour Sophie’!

It is 1959 and although WWII has been over for nearly fifteen years the aftermath is still being felt by everyone. The protagonist of the novel Sophie Morel is now eighteen and having just left boarding school finds life with her foster parents dull and difficult to say the least. With a great deal of spirit, she plans and succeeds in travelling to Paris to discover more about her background than the little she knows.

There is no doubt that the author is a talented storyteller and ‘Bonjour Sophie’ is another one written in her astute and atmospheric style. Highly recommend this to all her fans, plus anyone that has not yet discovered her writing and likes to fully immerse themselves in a novel.

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[Jane Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good read - Elizabeth Buchan writes well and her stories are well paced and reflective. Sophie is just 18 but has to come back to a small Suffolk village where she has been brought up since her French mother died. The characters in the village are written sympathetically but not without their flaws and Sophie has to fight to get away to Paris where she looks for news of her father who died during the war. She is plucky and brave and not afraid to speak her mind. A good read for sure.

[Gillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The year is 1960 and a young woman is growing up and becoming aware of herself and what she wants from life - and that isn’t an ordinary life in a dull English town, with people she doesn’t even like. After a short but intense relationship she decides to set sail for the Continent to find out about her family and particularly, how her father died.
The story then gathers momentum with Sophie experiencing all sorts of events in her life and has to learn both how and who she should or shouldn’t trust. She is given a taste of the high life and the chance to have a wardrobe of beautiful clothes and be wined and dined by rich and sophisticated men. For a time she forgets her plan to track down what happened to her father but towards the end of the story, her need to know returns and we are suddenly presented with the City of Paris and the story around her father and the truth of what happened to him.
This is both a pacy story and an adventure into life and the Rites of Passage for Sophie. The end is well crafted to also fill us in on what happened with Sophie’s lifelong friend. It is a really good book and thoroughly enjoyable.

[Jane Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bonjour Sophie is a coming-of-age story set in post-war England and Paris. Sophie leaves school at eighteen and becomes an unpaid servant to her foster parents at a vicarage in a Sussex village. Her mother had fled France in the war at her husband's behest to safeguard her pregnancy. She had died in Sussex, having provided for her daughter's education, but Sophie's foster father had control of her money. He didn't have Sophie's best interests at heart. She lives life despite her foster parents but yearns to escape and discover her heritage. Sophie experiences life in vivid colour and gradually appreciates where she came from, who she is, and what she can be. The pacing mirrors the pace of Sophie's life, accelerating as she goes to Paris. I like the evocative setting of time and place, the characterisation, and the contrast between life in Sussex and life in Paris.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

[Tanisha Jindal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Bonjour Sophie by Elizabeth Buchan! ⭐⭐⭐⭐ It’s a story about courage, finding yourself, and chasing freedom. The book is set in 1959 and follows Sophie, a young woman stuck in a dull and strict life in Sussex with the serious Reverend Knox and his unhappy wife, Alice. After a failed love affair 💔, Sophie decides she’s had enough and escapes to Paris to learn more about her past and her French mother, Camille, who fled the war.

Paris is a whole new world for Sophie! 🇫🇷✨ She discovers exciting new experiences, meets different people, and learns that life isn’t as simple as right or wrong. War leaves behind secrets and blurred lines, and Sophie must find her own path. She also realizes that the traditional life expected of her isn’t what she truly wants.

The writing is beautiful, and both Sussex and Paris feel so real. 📖🏡🌆 I loved Sophie’s determination, but since the book is written in third-person POV, I sometimes felt a bit distant from her emotions. Still, it’s a powerful and inspiring story about independence and identity. If you love historical fiction with strong heroines, you’ll enjoy this book! 💕

[Daisy Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bonjour Sophie is perhaps best described as a triumph over adversity. Consisting of two parts, we first meet Sophie whilst she's living in Sussex with the creepy Reverend and his wife Alice who took her French refugee mother, Camille, in when she fled war torn Paris. Camille died when Sophie was only seven. And from then on, Sophie lived a life of boredom and austerity. It is 1959 and Sophie has a restless spirit and a rebellious one. She longs for autonomy. Following a love affair gone wrong, she escapes Sussex and returns to her mother's homeland to search for information about her birth parents.

In her time in Paris Sophie relishes her new experiences and finds herself. Still beset by longing for her lover, she also realises that a domestic life wasn't for her. She finds courage and answers, and learns that history and war blur lines of morality.

Beautifully written, evocative and a story to savour in all its complexity.

[John Wheatley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have enjoyed several of Elizabeth Buchan's books and this one is no exception. I really liked the evocation of post-WW2 rural England with its privations and narrowness as well as its continuity of agricultural tradition and rural beauty - a world now largely gone!

Sophie's escape from this world takes her to Paris and to a whole new world of colour, culture and sophistication - and the tempo of the novel changes from this point to capture the tension and drama of her quest to discover her father's fate as a resistance activist. It takes us also into the world of Art, Art theft, Art provenance, Art obsession, Art money -a world away from Sussex villages, farming and little boarding schools.

I very much like the way that Sophie's initiation into this world, with its more complex and more ambivalent moral values becomes part of her development into a fuller and more sympathetic adult.

[Lubybel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sophie Morrell lives in a small village in Sussex, but dreams of France, where stories retold by her mother were filled of her childhood. In Paris, Sophie learns of her beginnings, the reason why her mother ended up in Sussex.  Written with love and warmth, this novel is a must. Elizabeth Buchan has captured the life and times of the era and laid bare for us to enjoy. We learn of Sophie's identity an all-encompassing story, of life, love, and coming of age. This is the second book I have read of Elizabeth Buchan. The first I did not enjoy, but this is a compelling read wrapped in history and the reality of war. A book I have thoroughly enjoyed and fully recommend. My appreciation and thanks go to NetGalley and especially Atlantic Books, Corvus, for my advance copy in return for my honest review.

[Catherine Clapperton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A huge thank you to Corvus Books for my finishes copy of Bonjour Sophie!

Elizabeth perfectly captures what it feels like to be a young teen on the brink of independence, and a desire for freedom.

Sophie tragically loses her parents at a young age and after several years at a strict boarding school and being taken in by the local Vicar and his wife, Sophie wants to discover more about her heritage and what she wants from life.

Her curiosity and matter of fact nature make her a likeable and relatable protagonist and without giving away too many spoilers, it was like being transported to Paris.

Cosy, atmospheric yet with hard hitting themes, identity, the impact of war and secrets that may be best kept hidden, a captivating read.

[Mrs Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sophie's parents were both resistance fighters in Paris but when her mother becomes pregnant her father arranges for his wife to leave France. Arriving in England Camille is taken in by the Reverend Knox and his wife, who continue to care for Sophie after her mother's death. In 1959 when Sophie is 18 and leaving school she determines to find out about her father who was killed during the war.

An enthralling story of growing up and finding one's roots, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The novel starts in 1959 in Sussex as Sophie struggles living with her foster parents. She longs to break away and perhaps go and see Paris (as her parents - both deceased) were French. But there are many obstacles in the way. She nearly doesn't go as she falls for a boy. The quest to go to Paris is really to learn about who her father was as she never met him.

[Simon Gosden · Rating 5 out of 5]

There aren’t many novels that make me well up, this is one of them.
A beautifully moving tale of the post war years and the disruption that young people had to face.
Sophie Morel is a French orphan growing up in a small Sussex village, at the same time, wondering about her dead father, a member of the resistance.
It’s a glorious tale.

[Paul Willcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely read

I thoroughly enjoyed this book & was rooting for the orphan heroine as she escaped a life of drudgery & made it to Paris in search of her father! Not only was it an exciting story but I enjoyed the descriptions too of both her rural beginnings & the her exploration of Paris & the various characters along the way!

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed this when we finally got to Paris, but the first part in the UK seemed to drag on forever. I actually stopped reading it about halfway through because I just couldn't stand reading another word about Osbert and Alice. I picked it up again on holiday and rattled through the rest but it definitely was not as good as other books I have read by this author.

[Helen Argent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't find this easy to read and found my mind wandering. I liked the concept and ironically watched again Mrs Harris Goes to Paris while I was reading it: same time frame and set in Paris. I found some of the choice of words odd and the asides confusing. Sorry! I read it because I had seen a good review of it in a magazine.

[Grainne MacMahon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half would be a fairer rating. I found the first half a bit slow but loved the second half. Sophie is an intriguing character whose coming of age is difficult. Resourceful, flawed but overall she is a person of immense integrity.

[Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eight chapters in, I'm giving up on this one. Although I've thoroughly enjoyed several Elizabeth Buchan novels in the past, I can't get into this story or the writing style; it seems rather affected to me.

[Sarah Brade · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Felt a bit dated in style which I guess reflects the 60s. Very readable. Maybe not quite 4*.

[Gail · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was OK, nothing outstanding. The base story line had a lot of promise and in different hands could have been a powerful story.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

With its sensitively-drawn characters and it's well-evoked sense of time and place, this was an enjoyable, and at times quite moving, coming-of-age story.

[Ann Day · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, good story and characters

[Jenny Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audiobook

[Elaine M Cleaver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating

A wonderful story about love, history war and family!
It spoke of seeking family and affirmation, facing fears too!
I loved it and could not put it down!

[Jane Hadfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I liked this book and the unusual story but the first half did drag a bit. I was surprised that this was only published in 2024 as the language used seemed to be quite dated.