In 1838, author George Sand travels to an abandoned monastery in Mallorca to spend the winter there with her children and her lover, the musician Frédéric Chopin. Their life there, and their unconventional ways, are observed and admired by a lonely ghost called Blanca who has been haunting the island for over 300 years since she died at 14 years old. As Blanca's love for George grows, so does the antagonism of the locals towards the foreigners.

I really enjoyed this book. It was easy to read with very likeable characters in their eccentricities and individuality, and it just felt like a nice warm companion of a story even though there were some tougher topics explored in this book such as death, sickness and predatory behaviour.

I didn't know anything about George Sand before reading this book and I'm not a musical person so while I recognise the name Chopin, it also doesn't mean much to me. But I really liked learning more about George and her relationship with others, and I admired a woman like her who yes, is wrapped up in her own privilege as a wealthy white woman but still tackled social norms by shunning dresses for suits, and making her way on her own with her writing at a time it was very hard for women to live independent lives.

Blanca was obviously the star character (plus Adelaide the goat obviously) and I was amused and intrigued by her in equal measure as bit by bit we get her own story, just knowing all the time that her death is someway related to the monks who previously inhabited the monastery. Her story is so sad, yet one that I doubt is uncommon in history but her life as a ghost was one of guardianship, the occasional haunting and terrorising (or poltergeist behaviour I guess) but only to those who deserved it. I love how this book gives Blanca the chance to 'live again' and explore further than she has done before.