Phoenix in the ashes

the long version

Paul Varonne had been dead for six months, yet at Château Varonne reminders of him were still evident. Living there was his mother, who still believed him alive and Chantal, his amoral cousin. Into this brooding atmosphere comes Paul's widow, Francesca, after a nervous breakdown. When she meets Peter Devlin, an Englishman staying in the village, it seems that happiness is within her grasp - until she learns the staggering truth about the château and its inhabitants.