Sorj Chalandon rarely disappoints and we are promised here “a very large Chalandon”. Our expectations are therefore quite high in relation to this novel which was born from a historical fact. In 1934, on a Breton island, children flee from a kind of recovery camp. Only one of them will ever be found and it is his fate that the French writer imagines in what he himself describes as “the metamorphosis of a beast born without love”.
His novels Once Upon a City and Les Évaporés had left us with a strong enough impression for his new title to be one of our must-haves for the start of the school year. The plot of the story is played here on the course of a fateful day which begins with an altercation near a school, in the Paris region, and which will have serious consequences for two students and their teacher. Intriguing.
Revisit our time as if we were in a cowboy movie? That sounds quite interesting. Especially since the French Maria Pourchet explores strong themes in her new novel such as male domination, the role of justice, the place of the individual, using the mysterious flight of a man and his encounter with a woman to nourish his reflections. A writing that should be worth the detour.
According to Alexandre Jardin, this book contains the darkest secret of his life. An incandescent tale where he confronts the specter of his younger brother, Emmanuel, who ended his life 30 years ago, leaving him to grapple with a host of heartbreaking feelings. Settling accounts with the past or new chapter in the rewriting of his family history? Either way, you risk getting hooked.
It is with increased interest that we will want to read this novel by Salman Rushdie completed shortly before the attack which left him with significant consequences, in addition to having prevented him from writing for nine long months. The heroine of this historical epic, set in 14th century southern India, is a sort of prophetess, an orphan child who, by the powers of a goddess, strives to create a city that would serve as a wonder of the world by overthrowing the established order in a patriarchal world.
The French writer who wrote Love and Forests and La Chambre des époux is known for his elegant writing and great sensitivity. And from what we have been told, the story of Sarah, who tells her life to a writer and becomes a character called Susanne, is a brilliantly constructed exchange that will be hard to put down. A novel that promises to be captivating, around a woman we meet at a decisive moment in her life.
The Franco-Argentinian writer and filmmaker here moves away from the theme of exile that served as the backdrop for his latest novels to delve into the story of a couple. A young couple who love and hate each other, and who find themselves faced with a crisis whose first victims will be their children. And as always with Amigorena, existential questions come to the surface as the tearing apart of a family serves as a pretext to probe the confines of the human being.
We’ve been waiting for this new novel by the Icelandic writer since last fall, which she told us about during her most recent visit to Montreal. She tells the story of a linguist who decides to plant trees in her garden, in the middle of a lava field where nothing grows. The power of words, the relationships we cultivate with others and the paradoxes of existence are at the heart of this title which will undoubtedly be one of the brightest of the season.
“In all love stories the wounds of childhood are replayed. This is how Chloé Delaume’s new novel (2020 Medici Prize for The Synthetic Heart) presents itself, in which she once again uses her experience – starting with her mother’s feminicide – to fuel her work. This love story is Clothide’s obsession with Guillaume, which she rehashes during a train journey at the same time as she traces the thread of her existence. A book that is likely to attract attention once again.
This novel won the Pulitzer Prize earlier this year and has made it to several Best Books of 2022 lists, including The New York Times. We are in Wall Street, in the 1930s, in the heart of the Great Depression. A finance tycoon and his wife are set to be the kind of couple everyone envies as the country’s great fortunes crumble; but a shadow hides behind this perfect painting. It’s our turn to find out what made it the darling of American readers.
