LA PAGE'S “COUPS DE COEUR”
You can feel it in the air: sun slowly warming up your skin, pubs’ terraces getting crowed… summer is finally coming! And summer means summer readings, of course! Fancy a few recommendations?
New season, new bookshop: this time, we asked our friends from La Page bookshop, which recently freshened up with a brand new space and new déco (good pick with this bright red colour!), which French titles we should start reading right now, and why. Here are the team’s answers…
Anne’s choice: Check-Point by Jean-Christophe Rufin (Editions Gallimard)
On the road again! In the 1990’s, five young adults have joined a GNO for various personal reasons, and are forced to live together in the closed environment of the trucks taking them to Bosnia. Secrets, weaknesses, and hidden agendas will be revealed, leading the characters to questioning their choices and values. With his flowing pen, Rufin manages to add restless psychological suspense to a beautiful life adventure.
Léa’s choice: Le Monde Selon Billy Boy by Gilles Leroy (Editions Mercure de France)
At the end of the 1950’s, being a pregnant single young woman is usually frowned upon. Elian is rejected by her own parents while the dad’s parents offer her money to get rid of the baby. On top of that, she finds out that the dad is not even 18. Gilles Leroy romanticize his parents’ lives before his birth, conducting a delicate and touching investigation of their past.
Léa’s other choice (couldn’t decide!) : Alors vous ne serez plus jamais triste by Baptiste Beaulieu (Editions Fayard)
The title of this novel presents an ambitious promise: to put end to unhappiness. A promise that is not directed at the reader but at a widowed and depressed doctor, about to commit suicide. Fortunately, before he gets a chance to do so, he decides to take a taxi that is going to change his life. The taxi-driver, an eccentric old woman, decides to take the matter into her own hands: she assures that she will bring the doctor back to life within seven days. Surprising and touching, this novel and its characters will make you see the simpler joys of life.
These books have just been published in France and haven’t been translated into English yet, but we hope this might happen one day. For the moment, you can buy them in French at La Page, where the team waits for you! Go meet them at 7 Harrington Road, London, SW7 3ES or visit their website.