Valérie Perrin
Valérie Perrin has published 3 books. The recommended reading order starts with Fresh Water for Flowers (2020).
Valérie Perrin is a French novelist, photographer, and screenwriter who made her English-language debut in 2020 with Fresh Water for Flowers, a lyrical portrait of one woman's search for happiness and love. Born in 1967 in Remiremont, in the Vosges Mountains, she grew up in Burgundy before settling in Paris in 1986 and later making her home in Normandy.
Perrin had already built a devoted readership in France when Fresh Water for Flowers arrived for Anglophone audiences. Her 2015 novel Forgotten on Sunday won the Booksellers Choice Award, and Fresh Water for Flowers claimed both the Maison de la Presse Prize and the Paperback Readers Prize. The book became a global phenomenon, translated into over forty languages and named an ABA Indies Introduce and Indie Next List title. In Italy, it was the top-selling book of 2020.
Figaro Littéraire recognized Perrin as one of the ten top-selling authors in France in 2019, cementing her place among contemporary fiction's most widely read voices. Her work weaves tender, emotionally resonant stories of longing and resilience, drawing readers into quiet transformations that linger long after the final page.
Shelf & Shadows
Order of Standalone Novels
- Tagsliterary-fictionromancecrimeDescriptionValérie Perrin's "Fresh Water for Flowers" transforms the cemetery into a place of unexpected warmth, where grief and hope coexist in the quiet rhythms of daily tending. Violette Toussaint is a cemetery keeper in a small Burgundy town, a woman who listens to visitors' confessions over cups of coffee, who plants flowers on forgotten graves, and who has made peace—or so it seems—with a life lived at the margins of other people's sorrow. The novel unfolds like the slow reveal of light through morning mist: gentle, deliberate, suffused with melancholy beauty. But beneath the surface calm lies a story of devastating loss and buried secrets. Through shifting timelines and voices, Perrin peels back the layers of Violette's past—a tragedy that shaped her, a marriage that defined her, and a choice that haunts her still. The narrative moves between Violette's present-day encounters with the bereaved and the unraveling of what brought her to this place of perpetual mourning. It's a novel about the weight of memory and the possibility of renewal, about how we carry our dead and how, sometimes, they carry us. Perrin writes with the precision of someone who understands that the most profound emotions often arrive quietly, in the space between what is said and what remains unspoken. This is a book that lingers like the scent of earth after rain.Publication dateJuly 7, 2020Amazon rating4.4/5Print length496LanguageEnglishPublisherEuropa Editions
- TagssuspensethrillerDescriptionNina, Étienne, and Adrien are inseparable from the moment they meet as children, three souls bound by a friendship so fierce it seems to exist outside the ordinary rules of affection. They grow up together in a small French town, their lives braided into one another with the kind of intimacy that blurs the lines between loyalty, love, and obsession, until one summer night when everything fractures and one of them disappears without a trace. Valérie Perrin constructs this story like a puzzle box, moving fluidly through time and perspective to reveal how a single moment can reverberate across decades. The narrative shifts between past and present, between the three friends and the people who orbit them, each voice adding another layer to the mystery of what really happened that night and why the bonds that once seemed unbreakable proved so fragile. It's a novel less interested in the mechanics of suspense than in the emotional archaeology of memory, guilt, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive. What sets Three apart is Perrin's ability to capture the ache of nostalgia without sentimentality, the way childhood friendships can feel like the most important thing in the world and then become something you can barely recognize. This is a book about the people we were, the people we became, and the ghosts of the lives we might have lived if we'd made different choices.Publication date2021
- TagsromanceDescriptionValérie Perrin writes novels that linger in the crevices of memory, and *Forgotten on Sunday* stakes its claim as a meditation on what we choose to remember and what slips away despite our best efforts. This is a book about the architecture of forgetting—how it shapes us, unmoors us, and sometimes saves us. The narrative follows characters whose lives intersect around absence and loss, their stories woven together by the quiet devastation of what cannot be retrieved. Perrin's prose moves with deliberate grace, building emotional weight through accumulated detail rather than dramatic flourish. She understands that grief and longing don't announce themselves—they seep in. What sets this apart is Perrin's refusal to sentimentalize. She observes her characters with the cool eye of someone who knows that life's most profound moments often arrive unremarked, on ordinary days, in unremarkable rooms. The book doesn't offer easy resolutions or tidy catharsis. It simply watches. This is fiction for readers who trust patience, who appreciate the slow reveal of character through gesture and silence. Perrin has crafted a novel that feels less like a story being told and more like a life being examined under soft light—turning it over, studying its shadows, acknowledging what remains unknowable. It's the kind of book that asks you to sit with discomfort, and rewards you for staying.Publication date2023
Frequently Asked Questions about Valérie Perrin
Valérie Perrin writes standalone novels. The books can be read in any order you choose. The titles are Fresh Water for Flowers, published in 2020; Three, published in 2021; and Forgotten on Sunday, published in 2023. Each novel offers a complete story independent of the others, allowing readers to begin with any title that catches their interest. This approach means there is no required reading order to enjoy her work.
Readers can start with any of Valérie Perrin's novels, as they are all standalone works. Fresh Water for Flowers, published in 2020, is often a starting point for many readers. Three followed in 2021, and Forgotten on Sunday was published in 2023. Since each book tells a self-contained story, the choice of where to begin is entirely up to the individual reader.
No, you do not have to read Valérie Perrin's books in order. Her novels are written as standalone stories, meaning each book has its own plot and characters that are not dependent on previous or subsequent titles. You can pick up any of her books and understand the story fully. The titles available are Fresh Water for Flowers (2020), Three (2021), and Forgotten on Sunday (2023).
Valérie Perrin writes standalone novels. This means that each book she has published tells a complete story and does not continue a narrative from a previous book or lead into a future one within a series. The novels are independent of one another. Her published works include Fresh Water for Flowers (2020), Three (2021), and Forgotten on Sunday (2023).
Valérie Perrin has written three novels. These are Fresh Water for Flowers, published in 2020; Three, published in 2021; and Forgotten on Sunday, published in 2023. All of these works are standalone novels, meaning they are not part of a larger series. Each book presents a complete narrative arc.
The first book Valérie Perrin wrote is Fresh Water for Flowers, published in 2020. This novel marked her debut as an author. It is a standalone work, meaning it is not part of a series. The subsequent books, Three (2021) and Forgotten on Sunday (2023), are also standalone novels.
Valérie Perrin's most recent book is Forgotten on Sunday, published in 2023. This novel is a standalone work, similar to her previous books. The other novels in her published works are Fresh Water for Flowers (2020) and Three (2021).
Valérie Perrin writes novels that often explore themes of memory, love, and human connection. Her work is characterized by its emotional depth and focus on character relationships. The specific genres could be broadly described as contemporary fiction with elements of drama and introspection. Her novels are Fresh Water for Flowers (2020), Three (2021), and Forgotten on Sunday (2023).
Beth O’Leary
Coming soon
Janelle Brown
Coming soon
We verified the reading order for Valérie Perrin's books by cross-referencing official publication dates, ISBN databases, and publisher catalogs.
Last verified: March 2026
Shelf & Shadows. (…). “Valérie Perrin Books in Order.” Retrieved …, from https://www.shelfandshadows.com/authors/valerie-perrin