Claire de la Rochefoucauld

During the annual party in the château of a wealthy French family, a murder is committed. The small neighboring town is thrown into disorder, suddenly plunged back into the old relationship of master and serfs.

The story of a team of Dragonladies, nine women age 27 to 77, from various backgrounds, who only have one thing in common: they've survived breast cancer. Their goal: take part in the Voga Longa regatta in Venice. Under the leadership of their coach, they've got to put aside their differences and their fears, to learn to row - or rather, paddle - together.

The paths of Sophie and Gerard cross following a traffic accident; as for their children, they meet during a school outing. Two encounters, two love stories.

Louise returns home from a humanitarian aid mission having been cut off from the world for weeks and is met with a shock: her daughter Safa is dead - drowned. The Medical Examiner's conclusion: accidental death. But Louise won't accept this, knowing her daughter's complete phobia of water. She is determined to uncover the truth alone: Safa was murdered. Louise adopts a false name to find a job at the winegrower's where her daughter worked and soon figures out the complex relations that tied Safa to her employers' family. A family seemingly founded on secrets. The motive and murder seem obvious. But what if things weren't so simple...? Louise will stop at nothing for the truth to be revealed and the murderer arrested; even going so far as to dig up old stories and another well covered-up murder.