The Time of Cherries is the story of Christine 'Kiki' Vellay, the daughter of vineyard workers, who is forced to marry an older man in exchange for a piece of land.

He abuses her.

She is seduced by a young naval cadet and plans to run away with him. When her husband is killed during the escape attempt she finds herself wrongly accused of his murder.

Kiki is on the run.

On reaching Paris in disguise, Kiki discovers she is pregnant and takes on various jobs to survive.

When her child is stolen from her, she begins a desperate attempt to find him.

Her story takes her from imprisonment in the infamous Conciergerie, to a chateau in the Loire, back to Paris under siege – as a spy – during the Franco-Prussian war, culminating in a dramatic conclusion in the final bloody week of the Paris Commune...the time of cherries