A prominent French writer delves into his own history in this eloquent reflection on dysfunctional family relationships. Hervé Le Tellier did not consider himself to have been an unhappy child—he was not deprived, or beaten, or abused. And yet he understood from a young age that something was wrong, and longed to leave. Children sometimes have only the option of escaping, and owe to that escape their even greater love of life.Having reached a certain emotional distance at sixty years old, and with his father and stepfather dead and his mother suffering from late-stage Alzheimer's disease, Le Tellier finally felt able to write the story of his family. Abandoned early by his father and raised in part by his grandparents, he was profoundly affected by his relationship with his mother, a troubled woman with damaging views on love. In this perceptive, deeply personal account, Le Tellier attempts to look back on trying times in his life without...

NAMED A BEST MYSTERY/THRILLER OF THE YEAR BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, A BEST MYSTERY/THRILLER OF THE MONTH BY POPSUGAR, AND A MOST ANTICIPATED READ OF THE YEAR BY CRIMEREADS Winner of the Goncourt Prize and now an international phenomenon, this dizzying, whip-smart novel blends crime, fantasy, sci-fi, and thriller as it plumbs the mysteries surrounding a Paris-New York flight. Who would we be if we had made different choices? Told that secret, left that relationship, written that book? We all wonder—the passengers of Air France 006 will find out. In their own way, they were all living double lives when they boarded the plane:                 Blake, a respectable family man who works as a contract killer.                 Slimboy, a Nigerian pop star who uses his womanizing image to hide that he’s gay.                 Joanna, a Black American lawyer pressured to play the good old boys’ game to succeed with her Big Pharma client.                 Victor Miesel, a critically acclaimed yet largely obscure writer suddenly on the precipice of global fame.                 About to start their descent to JFK, they hit a shockingly violent patch of turbulence, emerging on the other side to a reality both perfectly familiar and utterly strange. As it charts the fallout of this logic-defying event, The Anomaly takes us on a journey from Lagos and Mumbai to the White House and a top-secret hangar.                 In Hervé Le Tellier’s most ambitious work yet, high literature follows the lead of a bingeable Netflix series, drawing on the best of genre fiction from “chick lit” to mystery, while also playfully critiquing their hallmarks. An ingenious, timely variation on the doppelgänger theme, it taps into the parts of ourselves that elude us most.

Autofiction meets historical investigation in this compelling ode to a young French Resistance fighter killed during World War II—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Anomaly.Struck by a name written on a facade of his new home, acclaimed author Hervé Le Tellier embarked on a quest to recover the history of André Chaix, a resistance fighter, a maquisard, killed at the age of 20 in August 1944.Deftly combining historical fragments into a vivid narrative, Le Tellier invites us on a journey through one of the most troubled times: the inexhaustible Second World War. While avoiding simplistic, romantic tropes, he evokes the courage of a young man taking up arms, like many others, in what is also the story of a magnificent love with an equally impressive young woman, Simone.Made even more powerful and necessary by the current rise of fascism, The Name on the Wall gives voice to the ideals for which Chaix died and...

By the celebrated Oulipo writer, this brilliant and witty novel set in Lisbon explores love, relationships, and the strange balance between literature and life. Journalist, writer, and translator Vincent Balmer moves to Lisbon to escape from a failing affair. During his first assignment there, he teams up with Antonio—a photographer who has just returned to the city after a ten-year absence—to report for a French newspaper on an infamous serial killer’s trial.While walking around the city together to take notes and photos for the article, they visit the places of Antonio’s childhood, swap stories from their pasts, and confide in each other. But the more they learn about each other, the more their lives become inextricably intertwined.With a structure that parallels Homer’s Odyssey, Eléctrico W recounts their nine days together and the adventures that proliferate to form a constellation of successive ephemeral connections and relationships.

The delightful and daring English-language debut of French author Hervé le Tellier is a series of short, intimately interconnected stories making up a lively user’s manual to pleasure, relating the various liaisons of couples from Anna and Ben to Yolande and Zach (taking in Chloe and Xavier along the way, as well as twenty others, as you may have guessed), until the criss-crossing of their lives and partners makes up a pattern as intricate as the fresco on the ceiling of a chapel. . Harkening back to another playful book on an intimate subject — Harry Mathews’s Singular Pleasures —Hervé le Tellier’s The Sextine Chapel celebrates the wonderful, often random, often excruciating possibilities of sexual intimacy, with something here for just about everyone — and their wife, husband, lover, or passing fancy.

Any man--or woman--who wants to hear nothing--or no more--about love should put this book down. Anna and Louise could be sisters, but they don't know each other. They are both married with children, and for the most part, they are happy. On almost the same day, Anna, a psychiatrist, crosses paths with Yves, a writer, while Louise, a lawyer, meets Anna's analyst, Thomas. Love at first sight is still possible for those into their forties and long-married. But when you have already mapped out a life path, a passionate affair can come at a high price. For our four characters, their lives are unexpectedly turned upside down by the deliciously inconvenient arrival of love. For Anna, meeting Yves has brought a flurry of excitement to her life and made her question her values, her reliable husband, and her responsibilities to her children. For Louise, a successful career woman in a stable and comfortable marriage, her routine is uprooted by the youthful passion she...

A middle-aged man (our hero) is traveling to the heart of the Scottish Highlands to be with his young mistress (our heroine), who is twenty years his junior. Some people would call this madness, a mistake, as his visit is not entirely welcome — her boyfriend will arrive in a few days’ time. But our hero will not be swayed from his mission to seduce and win over his love. This is after all a physical desire, one he could never fight. His current state presents all the expected symptoms of love: painful impatience, shortness of breath, constricted chest, complete loss of appetite. Their rendezvous has been arranged on a main road, where the A32 crosses the S70, beside a road sign. Despite suspecting an icy reception, our hero hopes for the best. In The Intervention of a Good Man , a comedy of mishaps and disappointments reveal, with great energy and a keen sense of derision, the oldest story in the world — one of amorous fantasy and its denial.