ANASTASIA LESTER LITERARY AGENT PRESENTS : FALL 2014 FICTION TABLE OF CONTENTS FICTION .............................................................................................. 3   BEST-SELLERS 2014 ..................................................................................... 3   HIGHLIGHT SPRING 2014 .......................................................................... 6   DISCOVERED WRITER ............................................................................. 16   LITERARY FICTION .................................................................................. 17   NON-FRANCOPHONE AUTHORS ........................................................... 26   DEBUT NOVEL ............................................................................................ 27   WOMEN WRITING ..................................................................................... 32   CONTEMPORARY UP-MARKET COMMERCIAL TRENDS ............. 38   HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL ............................................ 43   COMMERCIAL FICTION .......................................................................... 52   LITERARY CRIME & SUSPENSE NOVELS ........................................... 57   THRILLERS .................................................................................................. 66   SCIENCE-FICTION & FANTASY ............................................................. 70   ALL TITLES ...................................................................................... 77   Contact: Mrs Anastasia Lester ; Email: [email protected] 1 FICTION FICTION BEST-SELLERS 2014 Minard, Céline: FAILLIR ÊTRE FLINGUÉ (FAIL TO BE SHUT) (Rivages, August 2013, 326 pages) Longlisted for the Prix Médicis, the Prix Femina and the Prix Wepler Awarded the 2014 Prix du Livre Inter & the 2013 Prix du Style Over 70,000 copies sold & new reprint of 20,000 copies in France!! German translation available ! ! A Western with roots, a veritable founding saga that ranges from lyrical to dramatic to burlesque, FAILLIR ÊTRE FLINGUÉ is first and foremost a vibrant celebration of the shifting limits of the imagination. On the outskirts of a burgeoning town that all trails lead to, a fresh breath is blowing over the inhospitable prairies of the Far West. That breath belongs to Water-Running-Over-the-Plains, a young Indian woman whose clan was decimated and who has been using her skills as a healer for the good of both Whites and Indians ever since. She will meet plenty of people: Brad and Jeff, brothers who are crossing the great open spaces along with their dying old mother in a rickety cart drawn by two stubborn old oxen; Gifford, who would have died of smallpox if Water-Running hadn’t saved him in the nick of time; Elie, who’s on the run from Bird Boisverd, whose horse he stole; Arcadia, a wandering musician whose bow was stolen by the Quibble Gang. And plenty of other characters whose singular fates, like the entwined strands of a colorful skein of wool, are woven into a boldly revisited Western tale in which that mythically untamed American landscape becomes a shared, still- permeable space open to all sorts of trafficking, transits and wanderings. Céline Minard’s novels include LE DERNIER MONDE (2007), BASTARD BATTLE (2008, Prix Wepler Special Mention), OLIMPIA (2010) and SO LONG LUISE (2011). All of her books have been critically acclaimed for their demanding style and their narrative virtuosity. She is seen as one of the most unusual voices in contemporary literature. Rights sold to: Germany (Matthes & Seitz VG), Spain (RBA) & (Italy (66thand2nd). “FAILLIR ÊTRE FLINGUÉ is one of the most intriguing and thought-provoking novels I’ve read in a good while. [...] Céline Minard handles things with admirably authoritative skill. She is by turns a painter, a geographer, a surveyor and a magician. In a word, a novelist.” Livres-Hebdo “FAILLIR ÊTRE FLINGUÉ [is] a marvel of intelligence and originality, one of the gems of this year’s crop of new books.” Le Monde des Livres “With perfect aim, Céline Minard’s entertaining characters, drawn over a poetic and contemplative background, bring this unique western blazingly to life.” Télérama Grand, Emmanuel: TERMINUS BELZ (Liana Levi, January 2014, 368 pages) 25 000 copie sold in France English sample available ! TERMINUS BELZ has entered the French bestsellers’ list. Longlisted for the Prix du Polar Européen, the Prix Landernau Policier Shortlisted for the Prix des Maisons de la Presse and the 2014 Prix Polar Michel Lebrun ! In the Top 10 for Best Thriller of the Year (LIRE Magazine) ! Listed for Prices: Prix of european detectif Le Point, Deuxième liste du Prix des Maisons de la presse, Prix Landernau policier Contact: Mrs Anastasia Lester ; Email:[email protected] 3 BEST-SELLERS 2014 ! An unsettling tale in a magnificent and menacing natural setting that is the only true master of sailors and other men’s fates. ! Human folly and superstition, as well as small-town gossip, make for a threatening atmosphere. ! The plot weaves social commentary in with themes like illegal immigration and sailors’ difficult working conditions. Marko, an illegal alien with the Rumanian mafia on his trail, is hiding out on the island of Belz, in Brittany, where he works on a fishing boat. He is confronted with a world steeped in superstition. A thriller with a threatening atmosphere and relentless suspense. Marko has decided to leave Ukraine for France, illegally. But the trip doesn’t go as planned: the two guides rape the young woman who is traveling with them. Three men step in, take their money, and slip away. With the Rumanian mafia on their trail, they part ways. Marko heads west, eventually finding a job on a fishing boat on a small island called Belz. What seemed like a perfect situation quickly turns into a nightmare: everybody on the island knows everybody else, fishermen live in miserable conditions, and there’s not enough work to go around. When a man is viciously murdered, the police lock the island down in order to interrogate everyone. But if they interrogate Marko, they’ll find out that he’s an illegal alien, and he’ll be deported. Once he has hidden from the police, he has to continue to lay low. Other strange events ensue, and fishermen’s superstitions crop up. Marko feels trapped between the demons of his own past, a threatening community, the police manhunt and the Rumanian mafia. Masks finally fall, and having faced down both his fear of the sea and of death, Marko is welcomed into the community. In this masterful tale, Emmanuel Grand’s Marko is captive to a hopeless situation and a police investigation on an island whose closets are filled with skeletons, where the madness and supernatural events evoke David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. Born in 1966, Emmanuel Grand spent his childhood on the Atlantic coast. TERMINUS BELZ is his first novel. Rights sold to: Germany (AufBau), Spain (Salamandra), French Pocket rights sold (Seuil) "At times a sobering thriller, at others an inspired social novel, Terminus Belz deploys its beautiful architecture and musical style right to the last page." Télérama "The thriller revelation of the new season." RTL "Grand strings us along right to the last sentence." Métro "A first thriller that speaks of resilience, of masculine fraternity, and of insularity." Psychologies "Cursed be the reader who misses this diabolical book." Paris Match "Right from the start of play, he proves he's got the soul of a storyteller. A detour to Belz is a must." Livres Hebdo "A 'devilishly' disturbing road movie punctuated with murders and peopled with feisty yet profoundly humane characters." Actualité "A windswept island is the harrowing no-exit setting for this first novel that combines Stephen King and Simenon." Télé Z Lambert, Karine: L’IMMEUBLE DES FEMMES QUI ONT RENONCÉ AUX HOMMES (THE BUILDING OF WOMEN WHO REFUSED TO MEN) (Michel Lafon, May 2014, 240 pages) Number 3 on the Amazon ebook bestelling list ! Endearing characters, an acute insight into woman’s psychology, a cleverly-crafted novel and a building that both men and women will be curious to visit. ! A novel that rides a growing trend: intergenerational cohabitation, self-managed shelters for elderly women, inter-district solidarity, an effort to reinforce social bonds and proximity between people. ! This commercial novel, optimistic and comforting, about a small group of women who’ve given up on men and whose refusal to love again will be turned upside down, is the perfect feel-good book. 4 Contact: Mrs Anastasia Lester ; Email:[email protected] FICTION In a building inhabited by women who have abjured men only, man’s presence is everywhere. In their anger, nostalgia, dreams and desires… There, four women have joined their destiny, in spite of their different ages and backgrounds. They are no bitter feminists, but women who, hurt and betrayed by love, have found a new way of life. Juliette, a young new tenant, is charmed by the joyful complicity, the laughter and the touch of eccentricity she discovers in them. But she hasn’t given up on anything! Will her relentless quest for love end up shattering her neighbours’ certainties and taste for celibacy? Both full of harsh and tender moments, the novel skilfully oscillates between deep and humorous reflections on the difficulty of loving someone and making choices in life, but also on how human beings, although broken by life, still find their way to happiness. Karine Lambert is a photographer on the lookout for essential truths. L'IMMEUBLE DES FEMMES QUI ONT RENONCÉ AUX HOMMES is her first novel. Karine is Belgian and lives in Brussels. Rights are sold: Random House (Spain), Sperling & Kupfer (Italy), Poland (Proszynski), Lithuania (Alma Littera), Romania (Editura Trei) “Des cabossés vivant à coup d'expédients. Des mal-aimés qui tentent d'aimer quand même. Claudie Gallay pose sur eux un regard profondément juste et bouleversant.” La Vie Mayeras, Maud: REFLEX (REFLEX) (Editions Anne Carrière, October 2013, 368 pages) 15 000 copies sold in France ! ! The dual story of a serial killer and the mother of one of his victims makes for a discomforting novel with a surprising ending. ! A gripping thriller with disturbing, pathetic and dangerous characters. ! Readers will be taken in by the red herrings: nothing about this novel is obvious or hackneyed. When another child’s body is found in the place where her son was murdered, Iris Baudry, an asocial and obsessive police photographer, reopens the case, unearthing family secrets in a dark and disturbing novel where no one is what they seem… Iris Baudry is a forensic photographer. Available night and day, she is called to crime scenes to immortalize the victims’ tortured bodies. Iris is discreet, obsessive and determined. She shoots corpses by the dozen to try to erase the image of her own son, who had been brutally murdered 11 years earlier. Henry Witkin, the scion of a long and chaotic line of unwed mothers, is a discreet serial killer who skins his victims carefully, grasping for the comforting contact of his mother’s skin. When a child’s body is found in the home town she has fled, attention à la vo, ‘fui’ au lieu de ‘fuit’, Iris is forced to return to the scene of her worst nightmare, the unbearable place where her son died, and where her wicked witch of a mother still has some hideous secrets buried deep within her insane mind. Maud Mayeras leads readers through the unpredictable plot with perfect mastery. A disturbing police procedural that is neither hackneyed nor flashy, and which has a very unexpected ending. A psycho-thriller that’s impossible to put down! Maud Mayeras is 30 years old; REFLEX is her second novel, after the noteworthy HEMATOME (2006), the winner of several awards for detective fiction. Rights sold to: Turkey (Pegasus), the Netherlands (De Bezige Bij/Cargo) French pocket rights sold after an auction (Pocket)! “Réflex”, paru chez Anne Carrière, est le deuxième et excellent thriller de la jeune Limougeaude, Maud Mayeras. Elle y développe suspens, ambiance sombre mais aussi une belle écriture, percutante et inventive. (...) Cela ajoute encore à son histoire bien ficelée, originale et prenante." Le Populaire "Dans le monde de Maud Mayeras, la première impression est rarement la bonne et le vrai coupable jamais celui que l'on pense (...). Un thriller hors-pair qui se lit d'une seule traite avec la peur au ventre et l'horreur dans les yeux. " À-Lire.info "Exceptionnel. Absolument diabolique." Gérard Collard, Le Magazine de la Santé. "En étant tout en sensation, ce roman fait appel à tous vos sens et particulièrement à la vue. Les images de Reflex, un thriller sensoriel, resteront un long moment dans l'esprit du lecteur." Plume Libre Contact: Mrs Anastasia Lester ; Email:[email protected] 5 HIGHLIGHT SPRING 2014 Guène, Faïza Guène: UN HOMME, ÇA NE PLEURE PAS (A MAN DOES NOT CRY) (Fayard, January 2014, 320 pages) The latest book from Faïza Guène, whose first novel, KIFFE, KIFFE DEMAIN was an international sensation translated into 30 languages. Mourad, a Frenchman with Algerian roots, tells his family’s history with self-deprecating humor, and a certain distance from both his own culture and from integration policy. Mourad, a young French teacher with Algerian roots, describes his childhood in Nice and his life in Paris. He talks about his over-protective mother; his father who can’t read, but never cries, and above all, about the scission in his family caused by his sister, Dounia. She walked away, slamming the door behind her, to become a feminist activist. Going into politics, she turns into a token of successful integration, and starts to look down on her own people. Mourad, disconcerted by her ideas, chooses to fight the prejudice around him: his parents’, his students’ and Dounia’s. Only their father’s falling seriously ill can bring this divided family back together again. A touching and funny novel that portrays, from Mourad’s point of view, French Muslim family life: their desire to integrate while also preserving their own traditions and roots. Faïza Guène is a French author with Algerian roots. She writes social comedies that deal with integration. Her first novel, KIFFE, KIFFE DEMAIN (2004, Hachette Editions) sold over 400,000 copies and was translated into 26 languages. UN HOMME, ÇA NE PLEURE PAS is her fourth book, after DU RÊVE POUR LES OUFS (2006) and LES GENS DU BALTO (2008). Rights already sold: Spain (Salamandra Ediciones) Sweden (Norstedts Forlag) Denmark (Forlaget Republik) “Le roman décrit le poids de l'héritage, la transmission et le décalage entre les générations. (…) Faiza Guène nous guide au fil des pages vers un miroir douloureux, drôle et beau à la fois.” Libération “On attendait son vrai retour depuis le truculent KIFFE KIFFE DEMAIN. La voici au top avec les tribulations tristes et drôles du fils d'un clan, écartelé entre changement et conservatisme.” Marie-Claire HIGHLIGHT SPRING 2014 Blondel, Jean-Philippe: UN HIVER À PARIS (ONE WINTER IN PARIS) (Libella, January 2015, 288 pages) Germain offer ! ! A huge success in Germany for his previous novel 06H41: 5th reprint since last June! ! The charming and subtle coming of age story of a young man from the provinces who decides to move to Paris. ! A young man from the provinces moves to Paris. His coming-of-age story. A provincial young man arrives in the big city to go to a very selective school. There, he will discover a new loneliness and a ruthlessly competitive world. One day, a somewhat fragile student breaks down in the middle of a class, insults the teacher, storms out of the room and steps over a railing. ONE WINTER IN PARIS has all the charms we’ve come to expect from Jean-Philippe Blondel’s novels: complex relations; a breakdown followed by a reconstruction – at a price; an attraction to both death and life; emotional confusion; success born of a misunderstanding; pleasure in the shadow of pain; resentment in the shadow of happiness. The author’s three geographical compass points – the provincial city of Troyes, Paris and the moor- like Landes region – all appear in this novel. This book is in a similar vein to Et rester vivant (“And Stay Alive”): the hero-author-narrator has the same wildness, the same pure raging desire – to stand up to the world despite an almost dilettante attitude. An English teacher in Troyes, Jean-Philippe Blondel writes novels for adults and for young adults (Actes Sud Junior). This is his fifth novel published by Buchet Chastel after THE BABY-SITTER, G229 (Virgin Prize - Version Fémina), ET RESTER VIVANT and 06H41. Translation rights of 06h41 were sold to the US (New Vessel Press), Germany (Deuticke Verlag), Italy (Einaudi) and Spain (La Esfera de los Libros). 6 Contact: Mrs Anastasia Lester ; Email:[email protected] FICTION Rights sold to: Espagne (La Esfera de los Libros), Germany (Deuticke (Hanser Verlag), Italy (Einaudi) Reviews for 06H41: “Habile récit à deux voix sur la destinée et les hasards qui parfois en décident, ludique, piquant, romanesque et vivant, 06H41 ouvre grand le champ des possibles.” L’Hebdo “Jean-Philippe Blondel dévoile avec humour et bienveillance les failles de ses personnages terriblement normaux. Et confirme que la vie se charge toujours de redistribuer les cartes.” Point de Vue “L’auteur de ET RESTER VIVANT revient avec un roman sensible et des personnages toute en sobriété, que l’on quitte à regret au terminus.” Télé 7 Jours Menegoz, Mathias: KARPATHIA (Editions POL, August 2014, 695 pages) Longlisted for the 2014 Prix Goncourt ! Longlisted for the 2014 Prix Wepler! ! Alexander Korvanyi’s character doesn’t realize that he’s out of step with history – even though it is on the march by the early 19th century. He believes in his feudal rights, and will defend them – to death if need be. ! Avoiding clichés, the author explores the idea of noblesse – of spirit, of action and of internalized values. ! The adventure is based on conflicts between the land-owners, the Korvanyi, and the Vlachs, but the novel avoids clichés and each character is an individual: both good and evil are within reach of anyone – powerful or poor – and Menegoz brings his characters to life without judging them. The author explores the idea of noblesse through the character's spirit, actions and values. 1833: Alexander Korvanyi, a young Hungarian Army captain, marries Cara, an Austrian noblewoman. The young couple goes to Transylvania, to live on his ancestors’ domain. There they will find a complex and explosive mosaic of ethnicities (Magyar, Saxon and Vlachs), languages (Hungarian, German and Romanian), religions and jurisdictions. Crisis follows upon crisis, and each confrontation reveals the ambitions and personalities of the characters – from nobles to serfs, peasants, servants and bandits – who are all walking a tightrope between power-seeking and crime. Mathias Menegoz was born in France in 1968, of a Normand father and a Danube Swabian mother. After pursuing scientific study in Paris all the way to a Ph.D. in neuro-bio-chemistry, he abandoned science to devote himself to writing. In Budapest, where he was spending time with the Swabian side of his family, he became interested in the Mitteleuropa communities that coexisted in the shadow of great empires. That gave him the material for his first novel, KARPATHIA. Rights sold to: the Netherlands (Meridiaan). “Karpathia is a historical novel, in Dumas’ or Tolstoi’s style, with a plethora of characters, cavalcades and great battle scenes. […] One comes out of it with the persistent feeling of an outstanding book dealing with something tremendously current. […] A great first novel.” Le Nouvel Observateur “The extent of the adventures and Mathias Menegoz’ perfect language are a true pleasure. An absolute crush!” Ouest France “A debut with an epic inspiration and with the novelistic strength and power of the great Russian novels.” Marie France “A novel in which Jules Verne flirts with Joseph Roth.“ L’Humanité “Karpathia is a historical novel, in Dumas’ or Tolstoi’s style, with a plethora of characters, cavalcades and great battle scenes. […] One comes out of it with the persistent feeling of an outstanding book dealing with something tremendously current. […] A great first novel.” Le Nouvel Observateur “The extent of the adventures and Mathias Menegoz’ perfect language are a true pleasure. An absolute crush!” Ouest France “A debut with an epic inspiration and with the novelistic strength and power of the great Russian novels.” Marie France “A novel in which Jules Verne flirts with Joseph Roth.” L’Humanité Contact: Mrs Anastasia Lester ; Email:[email protected] 7 HIGHLIGHT SPRING 2014 “La richesse des descriptions, la profondeur psychologique des principaux personnages, le goût pour le suspense et le récit d'aventures, autant d'ingrédients pour un premier roman convaincant, qui ne néglige en rien la complexité historique et géographique qu'impliqué le sujet choisi par l'auteur.” La Quinzaine Littéraire Deck, Julia: LE TRIANGLE D'HIVER (TRIANGLE WINTER) (Les Éditions de Minuit, September 2014, 177 pages) Short-listed for the 2014 Prix du Livre Inter and the Prix du Premier Roman! Long-listed for the 2014 Prix du Roman Fnac & the Prix Femina! ! A bold novel with an efficient virtuoso style that draws readers into an unlikely and surprising tale, a stunning literary achievement that is also a real page-turner ! A novel based on a crazy idea that fleets across lots of people’s minds at one point or another: run away from a tough situation, change your personality and start all over ! Mademoiselle’s character, perfectly logical in its madness, which nothing seems to affect and which rises above everything it encounters In her latest novel, Julia Deck once again explores insanity and the loose grip on reality of a woman who has built her own world, with its landmarks and laws. Mademoiselle’s back is against the wall: she’s out of money and doesn’t want to look for a job. She decides to shed her own personality to adopt another woman’s, and start all over. At an employment agency in Le Havre, Mademoiselle learns that her situation is desperate. But Mademoiselle isn’t listening to what the employment advisor or the head of the agency are saying: she’s imagining herself turning into someone else, Bérénice Beaurivage, a character from a Rohmer film. Slipping into another person’s life, a novelist’s, is no problem for Mademoiselle. She moves to another town, leaving her old identity behind; meets the Inspector and decides to follow him. But the Inspector is being followed by Blandine Lenoir, Mademoiselle’s rival, who is determined to find out the truth. Little by little, the web of lies crumbles, and from one town to the next, Mademoiselle loses her sense of self until she is no longer anyone at all, having lost track of who she used to be. As in VIVIANE ELISABETH FAUVILLE, Julia Deck toys with discourse and pronouns, cleverly manipulates the narrative and plays with the notion of a character in a way that is both captivating and unsettling. Readers will get caught in her trap and carried away by an unlikely story that won’t leave them unaffected. Julia Deck is a copy-editor for various newspapers and magazines. In 2012, her first novel, VIVIANE ELISABETH FAUVILLE, was published (20,000 copies sold) to great critical acclaim in France. It also attracted numerous foreign editions. “Une intrigue puissamment littéraire, servie par une narration sèche et précise, cinématographique. […] Le lecteur est seul juge, qui sait infiniment gré à Julia Deck de l’avoir, jusqu’à la dernière ligne, à ce point mystifié.” La Croix Paradisi, Éric: BLOND CENDRE (ASH BLOND) (JC Lattès, September 2014, 252 pages) ! The story of a man’s undying love for a woman with ash-blond hair, even after she dies. For the rest of his life, he searches for women with equally beautiful hair ! The singular destiny of a hairdresser whose profession saves him: from the concentration camps where he cuts and shaves hair, to Argentina, where he opens a beauty parlor and becomes famous ! A dense historic backdrop, from the Holocaust in Italy to exile in South America and the military dictatorship in Argentina “I am telling you: this book will get a prize next fall – Goncourt, Interallié, or Médicis… It does deserve a prize, because it is so beautiful and so strong, poetic and tragic at the same time.” Pierre de Vilno, Europe 1 From Paris to Argentina via fascist Italy, this poignant book intertwines the tale of a young woman who dies in her sleep with the life story of her grandfather, who was deported to Auschwitz. Flor is dying of smoke inhalation in her Parisian apartment, because of a fire. But her mind outlives the passing of her body. A witness to her loved ones’ reactions to her own death, and the confidante of her grandfather Maurizio, who confided all his memories in her, Flor weaves together the tales of her own funeral 8 Contact: Mrs Anastasia Lester ; Email:[email protected] FICTION and of her deported relative’s complicated life. She shares the thoughts and dismay of her nearest and dearest, including her boyfriend. She also describes the singular life of a man who was robbed by the Holocaust of his first love, and who bravely decides to leave Italy after WWII to start over in Argentina. There he opens a beauty parlor where he dyes women’s hair all different shades of blond, including the ash blond hue of the women in his life. With great insight and sensitivity, Éric Paradisi describes two fates from a singular point of view – that of a young woman whose mind lives on after the death of her body and who decides to tell both her own and her grandfather’s life stories. The book alternates skilfully between the two tales and between the present and the past, transporting readers to different lands and into different lives. Éric Paradisi writes both novels and screenplays. His novels include SÉQUELLES ORDINAIRES (‘Ordinary Scars’, Gallimard, 2007) and EN RETARD SUR LA VIE (‘Later for Life’ Fayard, 2012). BLOND CENDRÉ is his fifth novel. Rights sold: in Italy (Longanesi). Lafon, Marie-Hélène: JOSEPH (JOSEPH) (Libella/Buchet-Chastel, August 2014, 144 pages) Shortlisted for the 2014 Prix France-Inter / JDD Longlisted for the 2014 Prix du Roman FNAC Longlisted for the 2014 Prix Renaudot! Longlisted for the 2014 Prix Femina! ! A subtle tribute to Flaubert, this short novel is a masculine version of A Simple Heart set in today’s Cantal, in the center of France. ! A touching immersion into the mind of a sensitive and lucid man, who looks back on his life with an efficient and charming simplicity. Joseph is a hired hand on a farm in the Cantal, in the center of France. As is 60th birthday approaches, he looks back on a life he spent observing as much as working, in the neighboring farms; he knows them all, and not just how they are now, but their past, too. A gentle, quiet man, he fell in love with Sylvie one summer when he was 30. She wasn’t from around here, and had suffered a lot – both with and because of men. She thought she would take comfort with Joseph, but instead, he wound up paying for the others. In the middle of the winter, Sylvie left with another man. It took Joseph years and years to give up drinking, and become the sober, hardworking, and lonely man who tells this brutally honest story. But Joseph also has a married brother, Michel. Better looking and more ambitious, he left the farm to find a better life elsewhere, and after their father died, he brought their mother to live in his home, far away from Joseph. He will remain a silent witness, a clear-headed voyeur of other people’s lives, with his very own way of looking at his peers. Originally from the Cantal, Marie-Hélène Lafon is a French literature professor in Paris. All of her novels, including L’ANNONCE (2009) and LES PAYS (2012) have been published by Buchet Chastel. Marie-Hélène Lafon’s first novel, Le Soir du Chien (2001) was short-listed for the Renaudot Prize and won the Lycéens Renaudot Prize. Les Pays won the Prize of Style in 2012. L’ANNONCe won the Pages Bookseller Award, was translated in Sweden and Russia and is being turned into a TV film at the moment. “De livre en livre, Marie-Hélène Lafon explore avec une belle économie de moyens et une rare justesse un monde à la fois immuable et en pleine mutation. Un monde dont Joseph est le témoin idéal.” Livres Hebdo “L’écriture précise ne s’encombre d’aucune fioriture. Elle cible un parfum, un mouvement de tête, un petit matin froid, un souvenir de Joseph, et dessine une ombre infiniment humble et droite, noble.” France Inter “Dans ce livre magnifique, d'une grande intensité, la romancière n'accompagne pas seulement le destin d'un homme, elle dit la fin d'un monde quand les jeunes partent et que les vieux passent l'essentiel de leurs soirées à se souvenir des bons moments.” Lire Contact: Mrs Anastasia Lester ; Email:[email protected] 9 HIGHLIGHT SPRING 2014 Roux, François: LE BONHEUR NATIONAL BRUT (BRUT NATIONAL HAPPINESS) (Albin Michel, August 2014, 704 pages) Long-listed for the 2014 Prix du Roman Fnac Longlisted for the Prix de Flore ! A choral novel that follows the fates of four young men in 1980s France: each of a different background and going in a different directions, they will nevertheless find their way back to each other. ! An initiatory novel where personal destinies are successfully blended with political and social events that made history. ! Endearing characters that will remind everyone of the changes one goes through as we become adults. The chronicle of a generation and an epoch whose atmosphere the author conveys with striking perspicacity and precision. May 11, 1981. François Mitterrand has been elected President. All France is in the grip of emotion and excitement. Among the witnesses of that historic event are Paul and his gang. At seventeen, they are preparing their final high school exams and each one celebrates the arrival of a left-wing president in his own way. Paul, an average pupil, comes from a bourgeois background. Rodolphe, son of a communist labourer, is a brilliant student and a committed socialist. Benoît lives with his farmer grandparents and his only ambition is to take photos and help out on the farm. Tanguy, whose mother has been obliged to manage the small family firm on her own, dreams of climbing the social ladder. LE BONHEUR NATIONAL BRUT tells the destinies of these four friends who lose touch and get together again in their mid-forties. In spite of all the time that has passed, they nevertheless remain faithful to their old selves. François Roux directs documentaries and commercial films for television, as well as fiction shortmovies that have been selected by numerous French festivals. He is also a playwright and stage director. LE BONHEUR NATIONAL BRUT is his second novel. Rights sold to: Germany (Piper), Italy (Rizzoli) & Greece (Polis) ! “Ambitious, lively, sensitive, true, cruel, bitter." Le Figaro Magazine “On est happés dès les premiers instants par l‘histoire des quatre garçons, auxquels on s’attache même quand ils paraissent peu sympathiques au premier abord. On tourne avidement les pages pour savoir comment ils affrontent les défis de leurs vies. François Roux réussit à faire de ce roman initiatique autour d’une génération, un véritable roman de société.” Page “Une fresque d’une rare virtuosité dont on tourne les pages avec avidité.” Lire “Un page turner parfaitement mené.” Livres Hebdo Becker, Emma: ALICE (Literary Fiction, January 2015, 350 pages) ! Alice Becker’s debut novel, Mr, has been an immediate success: 5 000 copies sold and translated in 12 countries. In the form of a work of autofiction, this is the story of the four years of love between Alice and Emmanuel, which is also the story of a man trying to save a young woman from the innocence of her youth. Alice is 21. The finest age, or so they say. But how could Alice, who got caught up very young in the turmoil of her parents’ divorce and is in charge of looking after her two younger sisters, buy such a cliché? Courageously, Alice stands up to her fate: she still shares with her sisters the vast Parisian flat where they lived for years as a family, although it is now full of memories and pictures of a bygone era. At once a shelter and a prison, it is also a platform for freedom. Life finally greets her with open arms. When she meets Emmanuel, who is twenty years her senior, they immediately engage into a sensual game. But against all odds, what was meant to be a light hearted fling soon turns into something more significant. Youthful and carefree Alice will have to shed her past to grow up and invent her proper sentimental future, and in particular come to terms with her parents’ failure as a couple. But forgiving and forgetting is not that easy... Halfway between a novel and a diary, a book paying a tribute to the autofiction genre through the character of Alice, at once fragile, sensual and fierce. A subtle examination of the children of the baby boomers, 10 Contact: Mrs Anastasia Lester ; Email:[email protected]