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. Nicole’s 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 Nicole’s now-elderly guardian – the storyteller of the family’s 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 Tivot’s lives.

Powerful . . . splendid . . . so assured that it’s hard to believe the book itself is her debut. * The New York Times *
Written with quiet, lyric forcefulness . . . an impressive debut. * Elle *
A careful, intelligent writer. * The Times Literary Supplement *
A tender debut. * She *
Here, as with a palimpsest, each new form of pleasing delineated by the author is made more complex by the imprint of the last. * The New Yorker *
Though she tells lean stories, King can brush lush descriptions, with majestic colors and vivid, fleeting pleasures. * The Seattle Times *
Beautifully wrought. * USA Today *
Profound and surprising. -- Alice Fulton, author of Sensual Math
Elegant and wise. -- Roxana Robinson, author of This Is My Daughter