THESE BOOKS, RECENTLY PUBLISHED IN ENGLISH, WERE SELECTED BY THE FRENCH INSTITUTE IN THE UK
LULLABY
LIVE BETTER AND LONGER
by Leïla
by Michel
Slimani Published by Faber&Faber Translated by Sam Taylor Original title: Chanson douce
Cymes
Published by Quercus Original title: Vivez
mieux et plus
longtemps
When Myriam, a French-Moroccan lawyer, decides to return
France's favourite and most celebrated doctor gives the most
to work after having children, she and her husband look for
up-to-date and easy-to-follow advice on living a healthier life, for
the perfect caretaker for their two young children. They never
longer, in this huge bestseller that has taken the country by storm.
dreamed they would find Louise: a quiet, polite and devoted
Did you know that pomegranates help reduce dental plaque? That
woman who sings to their children, cleans the family’s chic
fridges are germ factories? That those little everyday movements
apartment in Paris’s upscale tenth arrondissement, stays late
can wreck your back? This French mega-bestseller reveals the
without complaint and is able to host enviable birthday parties.
truth about healthy living, and why it's never too late. I
The couple and nanny become more dependent on each other. But as jealousy, resentment and suspicions increase, Myriam and Paul's idyllic tableau is shattered. I
A WALK THROUGH PARIS by Eric
Hazan Published by Verso Books Translated by David Fernbach Original title: Une traversée de Paris
WOMAN AT SEA by Catherine
Poulain Cape Translated by Adriana Hunter Original title: Le grand Marin Published by Jonathan
Eric Hazan, author of the acclaimed The Invention of Paris, leads
Lili is a runaway. She’s left behind her native France to go in
us by the hand in this walk from Ivry to Saint-Denis, roughly
search of freedom, adventure and life. Her search takes her to
following the meridian that divides Paris into east and west, and
Kodiak, Alaska, home to a ragtag community of fishermen, army
passing such familiar landmarks as the Luxembourg Gardens, the
vets and drifters who man the island’s fishing fleet. Despite her
Pompidou Centre, the Gare du Nord and Montmartre, as well as
tiny frame, faltering English and lack of experience, Lili lands
little-known alleyways and arcades. Filled with historical anecdotes,
a job on board the Rebel, the only woman on the boat. Out
geographical observations and literary references, Hazan’s walk
on the open sea, everything is heightened: colours are more
guides us through an unknown Paris. He shows us how, through
vivid, sounds are louder and the work is harder than anything
planning and modernisation, the city’s revolutionary past has been
she's ever known. The terrifying intensity of the ocean is
erased in order to enforce a reactionary future; but by walking and
addictive to the point of danger. But Lili is not alone: in her
observation, he shows us how we can regain our knowledge of
fellow crewmembers she finds kindred spirits – men living on
the radical past of the city of Robespierre, the Commune, Sartre
the edge, drawn to extremes. Based on Catherine Poulain’s own
and the May ’68 uprising. And by drawing on his own life story,
experiences, and written in taut, muscular prose, Woman at Sea
as surgeon, publisher and social critic, Hazan vividly illustrates a
cuts through the noise of life and straight to the heart of our
radical life lived in the city of revolution. I
innermost longings. I
info
- march / april 2018 - 53