Barbara Constantine - Calmann-Lévy

Transcription

Frankfurt Book Fair 2013
Rights Catalogue
ÉDITIONS CALMANN-LÉVY
& ÉDITIONS N°1
31 rue de Fleurus
75278 Paris cedex 06
France
www.editions-calmann-levy.com
***
RIGHTS DEPARTMENT
Subsidiary rights manager : Patricia Roussel
Subsidiary rights assistant : Johanna Diaz
Tél : + 33 (0)1 49 54 36 48
[email protected]
[email protected]
Highlights – Fiction
 Literature highlights
Des vallées à vélo (des pentes et des côteaux) / Riding allong valleys (hillsides and slopes) by Barbara Constantine .11
Fenicia / Fenicia by Pierre Brunet ..……………………….…………………………………………………12
L‟Entre-temps / The Meantime by René Guitton ..……………………………………………………………13
Le Marcheur de Fès / The Walker of Fez by Éric Fottorino .…………………………………………………14
Xenia/ Xenia by Gérard Mordillat ….………………………….……………………………………………15
1, Rue des Petits-Pas / 1, Rue des Petits-Pas by Nathalie Hug …………………………………………………16
Le Muscle et la Chair / Muscle and Flesh by Patrick Olivier Meyer ……………………………………………17
Week-end surprise / A Week-end Away by Agnès Abécassis …………………………………………………18
 Suspense fiction
Né pour être sauvage/ Born to Be Wild by Alexis Aubenque …………………………………………………19
Pour le bien des enfants / For the Children’s Sake by Alexis Aubenque ..………………………………………19
 Historical fiction
Le Sculpteur de nuages / The Carver of Clouds by Jean Anglade ...……………………………………………20
L‟enfant qui parlait avec les nuages / The Child who talked to clouds by Raphaël Delpard ………………………20
Je jouerai encore pour nous / I’ll Play Along, For Us by Élise Fischer ..………………………………………21
Après la nuit vient l‟aube / After Night comes the Dawn by Katia Valère .………………………………………21
L‟Orpheline de la forêt Barade / The Orphan of the Barade Forest by Michel Peyramaure ..……………………22
Les Folies de la Duchesse d‟Abrantes / Napoleon and the “little brat” by Michel Peyramaure …………….……22
La Dynastie des Chevallier / The Chevallier’s Chocolate Factory by Emmanuelle Friedmann ……………………23
La Maison Vogel / The House of Vogel by Geneviève Senger ..………………………….……………………23
5
Highlights – Non-Fiction
 Documentary / Society
Un fléau si rentable / A Highly Profitable Scourge by Emmanuelle Grundmann .……………………………24
La Guerre la plus longue/ The Longest War by Hervé Asquin ………………………………………………25
FEMEN / Femen by Femen ...………………………………………………………………………….…26
Krach Machine / The Crash Machine by Frédéric Lelièvre & François Pilet …………………………………27
Porte-à-porte /Door to Door by Guillaume Liégey, Arthur Muller & Vincent Pons …………………………27
Rouge est la terre / Red Clay. Behind the scene at Roland-Garros by Bertrand Pulman …………………………28
À la recherche des plantes oubliées / Rediscovering Forgotten Plants by Stefano Padulosi …………………….28
 Narrative Non-Fiction /Autobiography
Plus haut que mes rêves/ Higher than my dreams by Nicolas Hulot ………………………………………….29
Beaucoup de chance malgré tout / Lucky, In Spite of It All by Bernard Chaussegros .………………………30
 Lifestyle
Une vie de Pintade en Afrique du Sud / The Pintades in South Africa by Sophie Bouillon ……………………31
Backlist
 Literary fiction
La Demoiselle des tic-tac / Miss Tick-Tacks by Nathalie Hug ...……………………………………………32
L‟Enfant-rien / The Nothing Child by Nathalie Hug .…………………………….…………………………32
Ce que savait Jennie / Jennie’s Truth by Gérard Mordillat ..…………………………………………………33
Rue des Rigoles / Rue des Rigoles by Gérard Mordillat ……………………….…………………………….33
Les Vivants et les Morts / The Living and the Dead by Gérard Mordillat ……………………………………34
Notre part des ténèbres / Our Own Darkest Shadows by Gérard Mordillat …………………………………34
Rouge dans la brume / Seeing red through the Fog by Gérard Mordillat ………………………………………34
Ma vie précaire / My Precarious Life by Elise Fontenaille ...…………………………………………………35
Le Palais de mémoire / The Memory Palace by Elise Fontenaille ……………………………………………35
Nevrospiral /Nevrospiral by Patrick Olivier Meyer…………………………………………………………36
Lilliputia / Lilliputia by Xavier Mauméjean ..………………………………………………………………36
La Tête de Gogol / Gogol’s Head by Anatoli Koroliov ..……………………………………………………37
Être Hieronymus Bosch / Being Hieronymus Bosch by Anatoli Koroliov ……………………………………37
6
Backlist
 Commercial fiction
Et puis, Paulette… / And Then Came Paulette… by Barbara Constantine .……………………………………38
Tom, petit Tom, tout petit homme, Tom /Tom, Little Tom, Little Man, Tom by Barbara Constantine …………39
À Mélie, sans mélo / To Mélie, without Melodrama by Barbara Constantine ...…………………………………40
Allumer le chat / Turn on the Cat by Barbara Constantine ...…………………………………………………40
Hôtel Miranda / Hotel Miranda by Iman Bassalah ...…………………………………………………………41
L‟Iranienne / The Iranian Woman by Maurice Bigio ..…………………………………………………………41
La Mémoire des autres / Other People’s Memories by Annelise Corbrion ………………………………………42
Le Berceau de la honte / The Cradle of Shame by Mano Gentil ………………………………………………42
L‟Avant-dernière Chance / The Next-to-Last Chance by Caroline Vermalle ...…………………………………43
Une terre pour demain / A Home for Future Generations by Gérard Georges …………………………………43
Le Théorème de Cupidon / Cupid’s Theorem by Agnès Abécassis ……………………………………………44
Soirée Sushi / Sushi Night by Agnès Abécassis ………………………………………………………………44
Chouette, une ride ! / Great, a wrinkle ! by Agnès Abécassis …………………………………………………45
Toubib or not toubib / What’s Up, Doc ? by Agnès Abécassis ………………………………………………45
Au secours, il veut m‟épouser ! / Help ! He wants to marry me ! by Agnès Abécassis …………………………..45
L‟Inconnue / The Unknown by Philippe Nonie………………………………………………………………46
Impostures sur papier glacé / Frauds on Glossy Paper by Catherine Rambert ………………………………….46
 Suspense fiction
Robe de marié / The Groom Wore White by Pierre Lemaitre .…………………………………………………47
Cadres noirs / High-Profile Management by Pierre Lemaitre ...…………………………………………………47
La Nuit des enfants-rois / The Prodigies by Bernard Lenteric ...………………………………………………48
Ne plus mourir jamais / I Won’t Die Ever by Marc Eisenchteter ..……………………………………………48
Noces de paille/ Straw Wedding by Yves Hughes …………………………………………………………….49
Sex vox dominam / Sex vox dominam by Richard Morgiève .…………………………………………………49
Série “River Falls” / “River Falls” series by Alexis Aubenque …………………………………………………50
Charité bien ordonnée / Regulated Charity by Alexis Aubenque ...……………………………………………51
Les Murs de sang / Walls of Blood by Jérôme Camut & Nathalie Hug ………………………………………51
Série “Diane Silver” / “Diane Silver ” series by Andrea H. Japp ………………………………………………52
Série “ La Dame sans Terre” / “The Landless Lady ” series by Andrea H. Japp ..………………………………53
Monestarium / Monestarium by Andrea H. Japp ..……………………………………………………………54
La Croix de perdition / The Cross of Perdition by Andrea H. Japp ……………………………………………54
7
Backlist
 Historical fiction
La Dame de Kyoto / The Lady of Kyoto by Éric Le Nabour …………………………………………………55
Les Lavandières de Brocéliande / The Washerwomen of Brocéliande by Edouard Brasey .………………………55
La Guérisseuse de Peyreforte / The Healer by Louis-Olivier Vitté ..…………………….……………………56
L‟Enfant sans étoile / The Starless Child by Raphaël Delpard ...………………………………………………56
La Valse des nuages / The Waltz of the Clouds by Patrick Breuzé .……………………………………………56
Les Racines du temps / The Roots of Time by Annie Degroote ………………………………………………57
Le Cocher du Pont-Neuf / The Cabman of the Pont-Neuf Bridge by Jean-Baptiste Bester ..……………………57
Fernand de Magellan / Magellan, Inventing the World by Patrick Girard .………………………………………58
Christophe Colomb / Christopher Colombus by Patrick Girard ..………………………………………………58
Mourir pour Saragosse / To Die for Zaragoza by Michel Peyramaure …………………………………………59
Les Villes du silence / Silenced Cities by Michel Peyramaure …………………………………………………59
Le Fracas des hommes / When men clash by Bernard Marc & Maryse Rivière ..………………………………60
La Sultane Andalouse / The Sultana of Andalusia by Muriel Romana ...………………………………………60
Le Testament secret de Moïse / Moses’ Secret Will by Carole Dagher ...………………………………………60
Série “Marco Polo” / “Marco Polo” series by Muriel Romana …………………………………………………61
Un Bateau pour l‟enfer / The Saint Louis’ Epic by Gilbert Sinoué ……………………………………………62
La Dame à la lampe / The Lady of the Lamp by Gilbert Sinoué………………………………………………62
 Social Sciences
Collection “La Petite Bibliothèque des Idées” / “A Little Library of Modern Thought ” series ……………….63-65
Works by Raymond Aron ……………………………………………………………………………………66
Works by Léon Poliakov ..……………………………………………………………………………………67
La Critique et la Conviction / Criticism and Conviction by Paul Ricœur ..………………………………………68
Dictionnaire international de la Psychanalyse / International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis by Alain de Mijolla ...…68
Bohèmes / The Bohemians by Dan Franck ……………………………………………………………………69
Esprits d‟Europe / Spirits of Europe by Alexandra Laignel-Lavastine ...………………………………………69
Rhétorique spéculative / Speculative Rhetoric by Pascal Quignard ..……….……………………………………70
La Haine de la musique / The Hatred of Music by Pascal Quignard ..…………………………………………70
La Tyrannie de la réalité / The Tyranny of Reality by Mona Chollet……………………………………………71
Enquête sur les savoirs indigènes / Exploring Indigenous Knowledge by Sylvie Crossman & Jean-Pierre Barou .…71
La Muse démocratique / The Democratic Muse by Mona Ozouf .………………………………………………72
Blind Date / Blind Date. Sex and Philosophy by Anne Durfourmantelle ..………………………………………72
8
Backlist
 Documentary / Society / History
Dictionnaire des assassins et des meurtriers / Murderers’ Dictionary directed by F. Angelier & S. Bou ………73
Sur les traces des Chrétiens oubliés / Among the Forgotten Christians by Charles Guilhamon …………………74
Les Religions, le Sexe et Nous / On Religion and Sex by Aurélie Godefroy ..…………………………………74
La Condition noire / On Being Black, an Essay on French Minority by Pap Ndiaye .……………………………75
Le Tribunal des vaincus / The Tribunal of the Defeated : a Nuremberg for Rwanda ? by Thierry Cruvellier ...……75
De Dakar à Paris / Africa at an Easy Pace by Pierre Cherruau .………………………………………………76
 Environmental Issues
Une mer sans poissons / A Fishless Sea by Philippe Cury & Yves Miserey …………………………………76
Le Syndrome du Titanic / The Titanic Syndrome by Nicolas Hulot ...…………………………………………77
Le Syndrome du Titanic 2/ The Titanic Syndrome 2 by Nicolas Hulot ..………………………………………77
Ces forêts qu‟on assassine / The Assassination of Forests by Emmanuelle Grundmann ………………………78
Demain, seuls au monde ? / Tomorrow, Alone in the World ? by Emmanuelle Grundmann ...…………………78
 Narrative non-fiction / Autobiography / Biography
Danbé / Danbé by Aya Cissoko & Marie Desplechin .………………………………………………………79
Interdit aux nomades / Forbidden to Nomads by Raymond Gurême & Isabelle Ligner .………………………79
Adolfo Kaminsky, une vie de faussaire / Adolfo Kaminsky, the Life of a Counterfeit Artist by Sarah Kaminsky…80
Moi Pierre Seel, déporté homosexuel / I, Pierre Seel, Deported Homosexual by Pierre Seel ……………………80
Les Sœurs Beauvoir / The Beauvoir Sisters by Claudine Monteil ...……………………………………………81
Un homo dans la cité / On Being Gay in the Projects by Brahim Naït-Balk ……………………………………81
Staline, vie privée / The Private Life of Stalin by Lilly Marcou ..………………………………………………82
Hermann Hesse, poète ou rien / Hermann Hesse, a Poet and Nothing Else by François Mathieu ………………82
 Lifestyle / Albums
Collection “Une vie de Pintade” / “Une vie de Pintade” series ...………………………………………………83
Collection “Petites philosophies” / “A Dose of Philosophy” series by Catherine Rambert .……………………84
Bonheur zen / The Most Beautiful Zen Stories by Henri Brunel .………………………………………………85
Conte du chat maître zen / The Tale of the Zen Master Cat by Henri Brunel …………………………………85
9
DES VALLÉES À VÉLO (DES PENTES ET DES CÔTEAUX)
Riding along valleys (hillsides and slopes)
Barbara Constantine
Barbara Constantine's latest novel, set in the country as always, is about bicycles and aging
people, children and animals but more so… rebellious teenagers, an unhappy overworked father
and a great-aunt on Prozac. Theoretically, not the stuff dream vacations are made of. Yet despite
the tensions, some knockdown drag-out fights and a few rivers of tears, it is the roaring laughter,
the vital discoveries and heartwarming moments that will of course be remembered.
Summertime : two short months to heal, learn, get along and love one
another ; two short months to do some pretty serious growing up...
The eldest of the pack, 18, had first planned on going on vacation
alone with his new girlfriend. But he failed his exams, he is broke and
he noticed that his dad is slowly going down the drain. So he decides to
go to the country with his 8-year-old twin half-brothers and his 13year-old angry half-sister. His great-aunt (75) lives right next door ;
obviously she'll help out with the kids... She turns out to be too
depressed and totally unfit to look out for anything, including herself !
Up-coming title
The four kids are going to have to do it all – all by themselves – in a
house without indoor plumbing, TV, Internet or even a washing
machine ! They are also going to have to look after the great-aunt, who
has taken a turn for the worse. All this, not wanting to add more
troubles to his already full plate, without letting their father, Dimitri,
know what's going on.
Because Dimitri, meanwhile, is in the city to work. He's been working
day and night for some time now. Mornings and evenings, at his job as
a plumber ; afternoons, at his wife's bookstore. Though he's not really
into books the thought of closing the bookstore never even crossed his
mind. So he reads the inside covers, bios and bookseller favorites, trying
to advise the clients – almost with a smile. Not an easy task for him
these days, but “avec le temps”, as the song by Léo Ferré goes, he'll
somehow get by... And maybe, after all, through reading, he'll dig up
the energy and love that he thought had deserted him.
Autumn 2014 – Commercial Fiction
Barbara Constantine writes novels and fixes a house in the Berry region. She also watches the cranes go by, the
flowers and the trees grow, and the cats, and the birds, and the squirrels... She is the author of Allumer le chat
(2007), A Mélie, sans mélo (2009) and the best-sellers Tom, petit Tom, tout petit homme, Tom (2010) and And then came
Paulette (2012).
11
FENICIA – Fenicia
Pierre Brunet
Pierre Brunet gives us the story of his mother Fenicia, a heroine marked early in life by the
brutality of the world ; a radiant and tragic figure who would leave behind a heritage first of
fascination and idolization, then of chaos, ruin and silence.
On April 5, 1964, at the age of 31, Fenicia would pass away in a
psychiatric ward on the outskirts of Paris. She had had a number of last
names as well as the two given names of Ana and Fenicia. For one of
her sons, she would become both a myth and a taboo – a taboo broken
here at last through the recounting of her story. The story of little Ana,
abandoned at birth near a Catholic orphanage in Barcelona and
adopted, at the age of 4, by a fervent couple of anarchists, Conchita
and Mateo.
Spain's Civil War is in full swing. Exile, life on the road and internment
in the concentration camp of Argelès-sur-Mer are little Ana's earliest
memories. It is there that her new parents would decide to change
Ana's name to Fenicia, in honor of the Phoenicians, who, in the minds
of the Spanish anarchists, had landed in Spain not for conquest but
rather to give the country its indomitable spirit of freedom.
The intelligent and beautiful Fenicia would grow up in France. An
anarchist, a seductress, a teenage mother, a wife, but also a doctor of
letters, Fenicia would be loved by many : by Mateo, her adoptive
father, for whom she would remain “his little girl from heaven above” ;
by Georges, the brilliant lawyer who would be Fenicia's her first lover
and mentor ; by Jean, her faithful husband who would never
understand her and lastly by Gil, the gallant knight who would be her
final lover. But the puzzle pieces of this life would never fit together.
2014 – Literary Fiction
Indeed, over the course of the years, she would never be sure of being loved, would eternally remain the little girl
terrified by the fear of abandonment, by the violence of war, by the ugliness of the world… And terrified, what is
more, by the possibility of her own ugliness. Henceforth, Fenicia would steer her life into the virgin territories of
make-believe. A life invented and reinvented, a life where truth and lies would become inextricably tangled and
eventually cause her downfall.
With abandonment for a birthright, war for a childhood and exile for a country, is it possible to make peace with
both the world and oneself ? How long can you maintain a balancing act of fact and fiction before you are overtaken
by History and the story of your life ? At least thirty-one years, in this case – enough time for an entire life.
Pierre Brunet was born in Paris in 1961. He has held a number of jobs, including ad salesman, croupier, delivery
man, security guard and journalist, to name a few. In 1994, he began working by chance in the field of
humanitarian aid, which would take him first to Rwanda and then to Bosnia. He is now a member of the board of
a French NGO and spends a good part of his time writing. He is the author of Barnum and J.A.B., published
respectively by Calmann-Lévy in 2006 and 2008.
12
L’ENTRE-TEMPS – The Meantime
René Guitton
Rentrée
Littéraire
2013
Addressing his father with a shy yet loving “you”, a son explores his origins to understand, at last,
what being in the world truly means. A brilliant and captivating novel written with passion, wisdom
and care.
CALMANN-LÉVY’S LEAD NOVEL – RENTRÉE LITTÉRAIRE 2013
Alexandre Landais, the little boy born in prison in a remote corner of
Morocco in 1943, is a grown man now. He is older his father – also
named Alexandre – ever was. The father he had adored, the naval
officer who had taught him about airplane mechanics and green flashes
at sunset. The man who had taught him the importance of treating
others with kindness and respect. Who had instilled in him a sense of
loyalty. And it is out of loyalty to his parents that Alexandre has come to
France, his father's native land. His parents, separated for so long, are to
be reunited at last.
However, exhuming his father means digging up the past : the scents
and images but also the faces of a bygone era. There is his mother,
Rose, a young Italian milliner, shy but impassioned ; and his maternal
grandparents, Vincenza and Girolamo, truly enamored of freedom. But
there is also Yemna, the Jew, and Mina, the Muslim ; the aunt from
America and the cousins from Africa…
With modesty and feeling, the author gives us a finely-wrought family
history within the larger context of History : that of World War II, and
the unholy alliance between countries at war that would send Rose to
prison ; that of the landing in North Africa and the bombings in
Morocco ; and that of Moroccan independence.
August 2013 – Literary Fiction – 208 p.
EAN : 9782702144701
Yet throughout it all, with the world crumbling tragically around them, a
sense of joy prevails. Cruelty is outweighed by the pleasure of being
together.
Publisher, author and an ardent defender of human dignity, René Guitton is a tireless purveyor of trends of
thought, his work over the years having sought, in particular, to establish a philosophical, cultural, and religious
dialogue between the East and West. He won numerous prestigious literary awards with Ces chrétiens qu’on assassine
(Flammarion, 2009) and Si nous nous taisons : le martyre des moines de Tibhirine (Calmann-Lévy, 2001). He is also the
author of En quête de vérité (Calmann-Lévy, 2011).
13
LE MARCHEUR DE FÈS – The Walker of Fez
Éric Fottorino
After L‟homme qui m‟aimait tout bas (Gallimard, 2009) and Questions à mon père (Gallimard,
2010), Éric Fottorino continues his work on fathers with Le Marcheur de Fès, retracing his
biological father's footsteps, in Fez, in search of his Judeo-Moroccan roots.
“He was born in Fez in February 1936. Today he lives outside of
Barcelona. His illness prevents him from flying, from using his legs, but
he still has his memories. He was supposed to be here, walking in Fez.
Not me. I should have been his chauffeur. A vertebrae near the spinal
cord, like an old worm-eaten piece of wood, decided otherwise. Why
risk paralysis ? His entire childhood is “sculpted” in his mind anyhow,
he assures me.
So here I am, walking in Fez. He is my distant guide. It's funny to be
here on my own. In the city where he had learned to walk but can no
longer do so.
This is the story of my father, Maurice Maman, who was called
Moses or Moshe in those days. He didn't raise me ; he did not give me
his name. We've only really gotten to know each other in the past ten
years. I am retracing the path of his desire for France. I am visiting the
Mellah where Moses or Moshe of Fez became Maurice the Frenchman.
It is not even two kilometers from the new city. Two short kilometers
to a life that was dreamed of, and then reinvented, separating two
different worlds that were drifting apart. I can feel the presence of his
father, Mordecai, and his grandfather, Yahia the Berber. I go through
the souks, near Al-Qarawiyyin, and up to the Marinids. I discover the
stagnant wadi with its icy water, and my father‟s childhood dream of
becoming a great Moroccan swimmer.
September 2013 – Fiction – 192 p.
EAN : 9782702144855
Here is the street where my father peddled coal, he had to see three stars in the sky before would light up a cigarette.
Over here, the balcony of their first apartment in the European city. And there, the Empire Cinema where my father
Maurice would sneak in during intermission. Next I stop in front of the Urbaine, with its elevator and terrace. From
that very same summit Maurice would cast off his talet, his prayer scarf, refuting religion, the gesture of a teenager
rising in revolt at the premature death of his older sister, the 17-year-old Ninette. What ever could have happened to
the young girl's white bicycle, which no one was ever allowed to use ?
I think about his life and mine, and all of the things left unsaid. Fez tells me his story. And so does André, his
childhood friend who had moved back to Fez when he was in his seventies. And then there are the now Muslim
streets of the Mellah, the former Place Lyautey, the Avenue de France, once their Sunset Boulevard now called
Avenue Hassan II. This is the story of a Jew from Morocco who would remain, in exile, both Jewish and Moroccan”.
É. F.
Writer Éric Fottorino was the former director and board chairman of the French daily, Le Monde. He won
numerous prizes for his works : the Prix Europe 1 and the Prix des Bibliothécaires for Un territoire fragile (2000) ;
the Prix François Mauriac de l'Académie française (in literature) for Caresse de rouge (2004) ; the Prix Femina
for Baisers de cinéma (2007) ; and the Prix des Lectrices de Elle 2010 for L'homme qui m'aimait tout bas.
14
XENIA – Xenia
Gérard Mordillat
Xenia is the story of two women, of two invisible heroines, that is, the cleaning women, cashiers
and salesgirls we run into everyday. It is also a revealing look at the struggle of just getting by, an
eye-opening incursion into the real-life workplaces of today's Thelma and Louises.
Xenia (“foreigner” in Greek) is a 23 years old mother with a 5 months
old baby. She is barely able to make ends meet by cleaning offices for a
corporate cleaning company, when her boyfriend takes off with all of
their savings. With no one to look after her son now, Xenia is forced to
take him to work, a makeshift solution that works for a while, thanks to
the help of her colleagues. Eventually she is caught at work with her son
and is fired on the spot.
Luckily, Xenia's neighbours are there for her, especially Blandine who
gets her a cashier job at the local supermarket. Soon – amid laughter and
tears, romances and quarrels but also hope and insurrection – Xenia and
Blandine are sharing the same daily routine : the same job, the same
apartment and the same furious drive to work their way to a better life.
Then one day their world comes crashing down around them : Blandine is
caught taking fruit from the supermarket's dumpster and is threatened
with losing her job.
Her fate sparks outrage among the inhabitants of the neighbourhood,
however, and spurred on by Xenia, they rise up against Blandine's unfair
treatment.
2014 – Literary Fiction – 300 p.
Xenia and Blandine‟ story is like a whirlwind, filled with heartwarming moments, everyday trials and triumphs and the
incessant struggles of earning a living at nose-to-the-grind jobs that don't leave much time for actual living. Along the
way, we encounter a group of truly amazing people who face the hardships of life with quiet dignity and a ready smile.
There is Gauvain, the laid-off bank employee who will win Xenia's heart ; Mrs Aziz, the affectionate old Algerian
woman and her shopkeeper son ; Biglouche, the mechanic with a heart of gold and Samuel, the young half-black
man in search of an identity.
They invite us into their world, which is also our own, a world where solidarity is not just another empty word. And a
world that Xenia and Blandine are determined to change for the better, even if it means first setting it on fire !
Gérard Mordillat is a writer and a filmmaker. He has published numerous novels, including L’Attraction universelle,
Les Vivants et les Morts (Calmann-Lévy 2005), Notre part des ténèbres (Calmann-Lévy, 2008) and Ce que savait Jennie
(Rentrée Littéraire 2012). He and Jérôme Prieur are the coauthors of Corpus Christi, a three-part documentary film
on the origins of Christianity. He has made over twenty films and wrote the film adaptation of his novel, Les
Vivants et les Morts, for France 2.
15
1, RUE DES PETITS-PAS – 1, Rue des Petits-Pas
Nathalie Hug
With 1, Rue des Petits-Pas, Nathalie Hug deftly recounts village life in post-World War I France. A
remarkable fresco of vivid realism and heartfelt emotion.
The winter of 1918-1919. The East of France. The Great War is coming
to an end. A small village in Lorraine, only a few miles from the front, is
nothing but ruins. Most of the men are dead; the women and children are
struggling to survive. Nobody has been spared the tragedies of war, but
life must go on. It is time to rebuild, to reopen shops, to start living again
– in spite of old wounds.
Louise, an orphan at the age of sixteen, knows all about poverty and
violence. Taken in by a midwife, she is learning the trade of delivering
babies, treating the complaints of expecting mothers and lending a
sympathetic ear. A scarred heroine, Louise knows more about darkness
than light. But she is determined to move on, to have a better life, to learn
to read and write, to raise a child and – most importantly – to love. With
each passing day at 1, rue des Petits-Pas she will discover quite simply
what being a woman really means.
But in the remote village of eastern France, local legends feed into fear,
and hatred keeps the villagers going. The war wasn't over with the signing
of the Armistice.
2014 – Literary Fiction
Nathalie Hug lives in eastern France. She has co-written several thrillers with Jérôme Camut and is the author of
two solo novels published by Calmann-Lévy : The Nothing Child (2011) and Miss Ticks-Tacks (2012) which has been
selected by the French Institute magazine, Fiction France.
16
LE MUSCLE ET LA CHAIR – Muscle and Flesh
Patrick-Olivier Meyer
English
sample
translation
available
“Dazzling” – VSD
“The most impressive novel of the year to date” – Public
An unexpected father and son relationship, both explosive and poignant in this second novel by
Patrick Olivier Meyer, confirming the promise of the first, Nevrospiral (Calmann-Lévy, 2010). The
author's edgy writing skillfully juggles humor and melancholy.
Ewad Kubicz, a 31 years old Parisian photographer, is about to
become a father. Then he learns of the death of his own father,
Kazimierz Kubicz, whom he had cut off all ties with fifteen years
earlier.
Kazimierz, a former pole vault champion, had led a thousand lives,
from his native Poland to the United States, without ever settling down
for good. First as a national hero and then a traitor, later as an
unfaithful husband and a truant father, the impulsive charmer had
always been an enigma to his son.
The unreal announcement of his death reopens old wounds and sets
Ewad off in search of his father via encounters, in both Poland and the
United States, with the women in his life. Unexpected events and
reflections on the past soon turn Ewad's journey into a personal quest.
How can we forgive being betrayed by someone we love ?
Muscle and Flesh is part of Fiction France Review‟s focus titles
for translation.
January 2013 – Fiction – 200 p.
EAN : 9782702143360
Patrick Olivier Meyer was born in California in 1969. His family moved to the suburbs of Paris, when he was
two. Since then, he has taken up writing and been exploring ways of moving on. Le Muscle et la Chair is his second
novel. He is also the author of Nevrospiral (Calmann-Lévy, 2010).
Critical praise for the author's debut novel, Nevrospiral :
“A debut novel brimming with energy, Nevrospiral gives woefulness and the excesses of
serious-mindedness a swift kick in the pants.” – Le Monde.
“Patrick Olivier Meyer gives us prose on speed, a sense of language
as sharp as line of coke.” – Elle.
17
WEEK-END SURPRISE – A Week-end Away
Agnès Abécassis
A great summer read with fresh vibes and a delightful sense of humor with a lovely heroine today‟s
readers will easily identify with : Brune, a modern mom stretched thin between romantic
entanglements, raising her sons and her search for personal fulfillment.
Once upon a time, when paper mail was out and letters were sent
electronically, in little bits and pieces, was Brune, an actress and divorced
mother of Nestor and Noé, twin brothers experimenting puberty.
A week in the life of this woman, in pictures. Snapshots of her
“moments”, her brief emotional outbursts. But those days, real feelings
were hidden by the seeming futility of text-messages.
Indeed, Brune was receiving ambiguous text messages from Leonard, her
radio host best friend, desperately in love with her. She was also always
there for Suzie, texting her during her love disappointments. Then she
was chatting with Prunelle who had a job on line and was being hounded
by Simon, a sleazy guy on the Internet.
Luckily, with all this going on, Noé and Nestor were doing pretty well at
school (if it weren't for that awful teacher) and had an unlimited
imagination.
In brief, a week in the life of a woman, still dreaming of vacation, who
finds herself invited to London, for a tête-à-tête weekend, just herself and
her sons… but after all not just her sons.
May 2013 – Commercial Fiction – 232 p.
EAN : 9782702153581
Agnès Abécassis was born in 1972. She started her career as a writer and an illustrator for a women's health
magazine. A former screenwriter, she is also a journalist and a literary chronicler for a number of magazines. She is
the author of the bestselling Les Tribulations d’une jeune divorcée ; Au secours, il veut m’épouser !, a hilarious text on the
joys of coupledom ; as well as Toubib or not toubib ; Chouette, une ride ! ; Soirée Sushi and Le Théorème de Cupidon, a
romantic comedy set in the movie industry.
18
ALEXIS AUBENQUE
Former bookseller and genre literature buff, Alexis Aubenque made his crime fiction debut in 2008. His “River
Falls” trilogy – winner of the 2009 Prix Polar in Cognac – met with a great success. “Nuits noires à Seattle” is
his new series of true page turners, featuring Charité bien ordonnée (2011), Pour le bien des enfants (2013) and Né pour être
sauvage (2014). Each book of the series can be read separately.
NÉ POUR ÊTRE SAUVAGE – Born to Be Wild
This new investigation from Captain Mike Logan plunges us in the violent and criminal world of the Hells
Angels. Set under the sky of Seattle, it completes the series “Dark Nights in Seattle” from which each book
can be read separately.
Ryan Bonfire, onetime aspiring rock star turned Hells Angel, is back in Seattle for the
first time in fifteen years. No longer on his way to rock and roll stardom, he's here on
quite another mission – to take someone out – and he‟ll need to have all of his wits
about him to do it !
But returning to his hometown has unexpectedly stirred up demons from the past, a
host of disturbing emotions – perhaps even scruples ? – that he will have to overcome
to execute the contract.
Meanwhile, Captain Mike Logan is back on the job with Lieutenants Angelina
Rivera and Dean Nelson, investigating the attempted murder of a police officer's
girlfriend. Could the case be related to Ryan Bonfire's return to Seattle ?
2014 – Thriller
POUR LE BIEN DES ENFANTS – For the Children‟s Sake
Also from the “Dark Nights in Seattle” series, For the Children‟s Sake is a hard-hitting and fast-paced
thriller about a both poignant and timely subject : adoption.
“A well tied-up plot, packed with suspense, that keeps us on tenterhooks up until
the last page” – Femme Actuelle
Becky Parker lives with her picture perfect family in an affluent Seattle suburb. A
straight-A student and a gifted musician, she has just discovered the whereabouts of
her older brother, Oliver, who was also adopted but whose home life has not been
happy.
The siblings' prospective reunion is overshadowed by unfortunate circumstances,
however : Oliver, a delinquent looking for trouble, is suspected of having murdered a
famous surgeon. Becky wants desperately to believe in her brother. Yet she can't help
wondering whether Oliver is an innocent victim or a skillful manipulator.
Captain Mike Logan assigns the sensitive case to Lieutenant Rivera and his new
partner, Liu Zhang, who find themselves caught up in a tangled web of do-gooders
and child trafficking.
January 2013 – Thriller – 394 p.
EAN : 9782702144381
French Sale : Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche).
19
LE SCULPTEUR DE NUAGES – The Carver of Clouds
Jean Anglade
Inspired by the life of Ralph Stackpole, the picturesque and spirited portrait of a renowned American
sculptor – the toast of San Francisco in the 1930s – who left his country at the height of fame for the love of
Francine, a beautiful Frenchwoman.
California, 1898. Ralph, whose mother had died in childbirth, is orphaned at the
age of thirteen when his father, a lumberjack, is tragically killed. Left to fend for
himself, he encounters Jack London, whom he decides to follow to the Klondike
in order to become a gold prospector. After being trapped in a collapsed mine, he
realizes that he is not cut out for a life of adventure.
Spontaneously drawn to sculpting, Ralph turns to the study of fine arts, his
promising talent soon earning him a scholarship that takes him to the Beaux-Arts
in Paris. Upon returning to San Francisco, he makes a name for himself as the
city's official sculptor, piling up impressive public commissions.
Then one day, Francine, a beautiful French immigrant from the Auvergne region,
enters his workshop. His love for the homesick Frenchwoman soon leads Ralph to
leave the United States again and to settle on a farm in the heart of the French
countryside.
August 2013 – Historical fiction
288 p. – EAN : 9782702153819
French Sale : Book-club edition (GLM).
Thus begins a whole new life, complete with a cast of colorful characters. Ralph
thinks that his days as a sculptor have come to an end, only to discover the
unsurpassed quality of the gray stones used to build the village church, the Volvic
stone.
Jean Anglade was born in 1915. From humble origins, he would go on to become
first a school teacher then an Italian teacher and an associate professor. The spiritual
successor of Alexandre Vialatte, he is considered the literary patriarch of the Auvergne
region.
L’ENFANT QUI PARLAIT AVEC LES NUAGES – The Child who talked to clouds
Raphaël Delpard
The moving story of a young blind child and a courageous teacher,
fighting injustice and cruelty in rural France during the Great War.
1918. A young school teacher, Clarisse, is getting ready for back to school. She has
been given a teaching position in a small village in her native region of western
France.
At the beginning of the school year, she encounters Mina, the blind younger sister
of one of her students. Because of her handicap, she is forced to stay home with
her mother who lives on the outskirts of town. Curious, lively and intelligent, Mina
is eager to learn. Clarisse decides to give her lessons at home.
The young blind girl progresses so quickly that the teacher decides to give her a
spot in her class. But the intrusion of a child who is “not like the others” into the
local school arouses the hostility of the local population and the young school
teacher soon finds herself facing a frightening conspiracy.
Actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, journalist and author, Raphaël Delpard has published
several novels, articles and essays. He is also the author of L’Enfant sans étoile, published
by Calmann-Lévy in 2010.
20
October 2013 – Historical fiction
272 p. – EAN : 9782702154427
JE JOUERAI ENCORE POUR NOUS – I‟ll Play Along, For Us
Élise Fischer
With this beautiful love story paced by classical music, the author also orchestrates a suspense-packed
thriller and unveils, revelation after revelation, the weight of a heavy past.
1975. Twenty-year-old Anaïs Lange, an impassioned pianist, lives with her
grandmother in Nancy, in the East of France. Already well-known locally, she is
unexpectedly given the opportunity of replacing a famous pianist on tour in the
region.
Thus does she meet and fall in love with the charming violinist, Nathanaël. The
lovers tell each other everything, including their family histories. Nathanaël's father
and grandfather, owners of a music store perished in concentration camps and his
mother managed to escape the roundup, taking with her, as sole possession, her
violin. Anaïs tells the story of her father, an active member of the Resistance who
attempted the impossible to help Jewish families escape from the Gestapo and was
a hero during the Liberation.
The lovers' respective pasts create an even stronger bond. Passionately in love, the
young musicians are soon expecting a child and contemplating marriage. But
Nathanaël's mother and grandmother are inexplicably against their union. This
fierce opposition seems incomprehensible, until Anaïs discovers that her family
history is based on terrible lies.
September 2013 – Historical fiction
304 p. – EAN : 9782702144008
Elise Fischer is a journalist and the author of a number of novels.
APRÈS LA NUIT VIENT L’AUBE – After Night comes the Dawn
Katia Valère
A family saga of great feeling and sensitivity interweaving the stories of
three brothers between France and Indochina.
Eastern France, the 1930s. After the accidental death of her husband, Gabrielle
has gone to live with her three sons on family lands in a village in the East of
France. Jean, the youngest son, is the first to marry. But his mother's disapproval
of his wife's pert ways pushes him into exile in Indochina.
Evrard, the eldest, and Arthur, the youngest, are seeing the local doctor's
daughters, romances which will take two very different turns : Arthur ends up
marrying the younger sister, settling happily in the region ; Evrard refuses to marry
the eldest, Clemence, who is madly in love with him.
November 2013 – Historical Fiction
380 p. – EAN : 9782702153826
After returning from his trip to Indochina to settle the affairs of Jean who had died
prematurely, Evrard is about to take up with Clemence again. However, much to
his family's surprise, he announces the unexpected arrival of Rachel, heiress to a
large plantation, whom he has encountered in Saigon.
Katia Valère was born in the Vosges woodlands of Eastern France. She has traveled
the world over as a singer and now dedicates herself to writing.
21
MICHEL PEYRAMAURE
Michel Peyramaure has written a number of acclaimed historical novels, including Les Villes du silence (2010), Tempête sur le
Mexique (2011), Mourir pour Saragosse (2012), Les Folies de la duchesse d’Abrantès (2013) and L’Orpheline de la forêt Barade (2014) all
published by Calmann-Lévy. He was awarded the Prix de la Société des gens de lettres and the Prix Alexandre Dumas for his entire
body of work.
L‟ORPHELINE DE LA FORÊT BARADE – The Orphan of the Barade Forest
Based on historical events, Michel Peyramaure deftly recounts the tragic fate of a daughter of the
Renaissance, victim of the tumultuous times of French religious conflicts in a region wracked by cruelty
and violence.
Southwestern France, the late 16th century. Damien is an old man now. Memories are
all he has left. The groundskeeper of Lherm Castle, in the heart of France's Périgord,
he has lived through troubled times, having witnessed the horrors of war that would
see the last of the seigniorial line die out.
He sadly recalls a far-off and somber past. In those days, Lherm Castle looked out
over the wilds of Barade Forest, a particularly cutthroat domain as the region is torn
by the French wars of religion and inhabited by hermits, outlaws and highway
robbers. Bloody battles would sweep through the Périgord, and the seignior of Lherm
himself would ultimately fall victim to fierce combat.
2014 – Historical fiction
With great emotion, Damien then recalls the arrival – and the grim fate – of young
Marguerite, barely five years old at the time. The daughter of the deceased lord, and
the sole heir of Lherm Castle, Marguerite would grow up in the castle with her mother
and her mother's new husband, a powerful feudal lord. At the age of twelve,
Marguerite is betrothed to her half-brother. However, after the death of her stepfather, her heartbroken mother withdraws to a convent. Alone in the world and at the
mercy of a cruel husband, the young bride soon finds herself at the center of a
diabolical conspiracy to dispossess her of her fortune. One person alone could save
her : Damien, the old groundskeeper, who loves her like a daughter.
LES FOLIES DE LA DUCHESSE D‟ABRANTÈS – Napoleon and the “little brat”
A lively and colorful page-turner giving a long-overdue look at the destiny of one of the Napoleon
Empire's most fascinating women, Laure Permont – the Duchess d‟Abrantès – who came to a tragic and
memorably romantic end in the era of Victor Hugo, Honoré de Balzac and Alexandre Dumas.
Napoléon Bonaparte consented, but only reluctantly, to the marriage of his trusty
Junot d‟Abrantès, with the beautiful Laure Permont. Indeed, he had close ties to
her family and would have much rather seen the proud descendant of Byzantine's
last emperors married to one of his brothers.
In spite of her profligacy, her extravagance, her rebelliousness and her tumultuous
love affair with the Count of Metternich, the Austrian ambassador to Paris,
Napoleon proved himself magnanimous and treated the Duchess d‟Abrantès, his
“little brat”, with great generosity. For she was also witty, charming and utterly
irresistible, the pride of his court.
The fall of the Empire should have meant her ruin. It didn't. Instead, her salon
would bring together the finest minds of the new era, including Hugo, Musset,
Dumas and Balzac, who would be her last lover.
Through this fascinating story, Michel Peyramaure also gives us a surprising look at
Napoleon's character, seen through the eyes of a childhood friend.
February 2013 – Historical fiction
400 p. – EAN : 9782702144404
22
LA DYNASTIE DES CHEVALLIER – The Chevallier‟s Chocolate Factory
Emmanuelle Friedmann
A small chocolate factory buffeted by the winds of change and a fascinating look at the world of chocolatemaking : from confectionery recipes to packaging by way of everything in between ! A visual, olfactory and
gustatory treat sure to delight chocolate lovers everywhere.
Paris, 1871. Jackie and Julien, two 10-year-old boys are the best of friends. Yet
their fathers have forbidden them to play together : Jackie's father owns the
Chevallier chocolate factory ; Julien's father works there.
As the boys grow up, neither seem suited to their lot in life. Jackie is a talented
chocolatier and hasn't the slightest interest in running the family business. Julien,
on the other hand, could even become a great industrialist, if his station in life had
been other. He could decide to seduce Juliette, Jackie's sister however, he has been
in love with her since he was a child, after all. But Jackie's father would consider
such a liaison beyond the pale and his own father would see it as a betrayal...
The author describes a colorful, highly detailed account of changes in France
during the Belle Époque as seen through the intersecting destinies of a line of
industrialists and a working class family. She explores in particular the onset of
mass consumption, the development of advertising and the invention of marketing
through the delights of chocolate.
Emmanuelle Friedmann is a journalist interested in social, cultural and
environmental issues. She is the author of Le Rêveur des Halles, published by CalmannLévy in 2012.
March 2013 – Historical fiction
260 p. – EAN : 9782702144893
French Sales : Book-club edition
(GLM), Large print (Libra Diffusio).
LA MAISON VOGEL – The House of Vogel
Geneviève Senger
The touching love stories of two couples able to overcome the bitter
resentments of a dark era through the evocation of gingerbread, still baked
according to long-held traditions.
October 1945. Alsace. In a small village, Céline Baumgartner, daughter of a
winemaker, welcomes her fiance, Julien, upon his return from captivity in Russia. He
had been arrested, along with two other comrades, attempting to flee conscription
into the German Wehrmacht. Julien was sent to the Eastern Front in a disciplinary
battalion. His father, the owner of a small gingerbread factory, was also arrested in
retribution but had died at the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp in 1942.
Julien wants to rebuild the family business but doesn't have the heart. He is haunted
by feelings of guilt over his father's tragic fate. Then there is Céline. She seems
different, seems to be hiding something. To make matters worse, he discovers that a
denunciation during the Occupation had led to his arrest.
April 2013 – Historical fiction
500 p. – EAN : 9782702143971
French Sales : Book-club edition
(GLM “Main Selection”), Large print
edition (Libra Diffusio).
In this book, the author vividly evokes the disturbing days of the end of World War II
and how people had to learn again how to continue their lives and especially how to
live all together despite everything.
Geneviève Senger has worked as a nurse for ten years before devoting herself to writing.
She has written a number of children's books and is the author of several novels.
23
UN FLÉAU SI RENTABLE
A Highly Profitable Scourge. The Low-down on Palm Oil
Emmanuelle Grundmann
Focusing on both health and environmental issues aroused by palm oil, Emmanuelle Grundmann
gives us the first thoroughly documented and impartial investigation on this latest “green” gold,
and sifts through the truths and falsehoods that have clouded the debate for the past twenty years.
The reader is in for some revelations.
Palm oil is everywhere, distributed by supermarkets around the world,
found in an ubiquitous array of agribusiness foods and household
products, including cookies, cakes, pastries and powdered milk,
condiments, ready-made meals, ice cream and pizzas, cosmetics and
soaps...
Why ? Because of its mechanical and thermal properties that give it a
“hold” infinitely more stable than any other vegetable oil, no matter
what the temperature.
As for its nutritive value ? Numerous NGOs and public health
agencies have sounded the alarm, repeatedly challenging its high
content in saturated fatty acids, synonymous today who have the
obesity of consumers with little access to fresh produce.
Criticisms don't stop here, however. The oil palm, native to Africa, is
being intensively farmed in some of the world's most valuable
rainforests, with devastating effects on habitat, biodiversity and
indigenous peoples. In Indonesia, Malaysia, Central Africa and Latin
America, millions of acres of primary forest have been cleared in
favor of sprawling palm oil plantations. Authorized by often corrupt
governments, the food industry giants in charge of operations take
advantage, what is more, of local cheap labor forces, deprived of their
traditional livelihood through rainforest destruction.
September 2013 – Document – 264 p.
EAN : 9782702144459
Yet the issue is virtually taboo, as both “agro” concerns and governments condemn any overly curious journalist who
may rub consumers the wrong way and interfere with “business”.
Emmanuelle Grundmann is a biologist, a naturalist and a primatologist. She has published a number of books
examining animal and human interaction, including Ces forêts qu'on assassine (2007) and Demain, seuls au monde ? (2010),
both of which were published by Calmann-Lévy.
24
LA GUERRE LA PLUS LONGUE – The Longest War
Hervé Asquin
Combining geopolitical knowledge and field experience, the author guides us through the longest
war of modern history and all its intricacies with great clarity. An easy read filled with revelations
uncovered both by Wikileaks and Hervé Asquin, a recognized authority and veteran journalist.
The endless conflict in Afghanistan – longer than those of either
World War I, World War II or the Vietnam War – has dashed any
hopes of “nation building” still entertained by the West. The fact is,
after ten years of “asymmetric” warfare against an elusive yet
omnipresent enemy, the disasters ravaging Afghan society have in no
way been contained : terrorism, insurgencies and ethnic-tribal
rivalries remain rife ; the economy is floundering and Afghan society
is still victim to endemic corruption and poverty. Some evils, such as
drug trafficking, have even gotten worse. The West has paid a heavy
price for its obstinacy : over 3,000 coalition soldiers killed, tens of
thousands injured, thousands of “collateral” civilian casualties, $2000
billion dollars up in smoke.
How did the West get itself into the Afghan trap ? Hervé Asquin has
conducted a postmortem of the long and costly war – assessing both
the military and political repercussions as well as the costs in terms
of human life – as the coalition forces began pulling out, one after
the other. Because it is first and foremost the soldiers, the American,
English and French officers and NCOs as well as their Afghan Army
counterparts, who paid the heavy “blood price” of the great Western
illusion.
September 2013 – Document – 240 p.
EAN : 9782702141977
Hervé Asquin knows the subject inside-out. He witnessed the war both from the battle field, when following the
French “patrol” troops from Kapisa to Helmand and the afghan enlistees, and from the diplomatic sphere, when
covering the Bonn conference.
Neither criticism nor thesis, the present work skillfully weaves together geopolitical knowledge and firsthand
experience, exploring from the field the underpinnings of corruption, certain strategic and diplomatic mistakes as
well as the implacable mechanisms that would lead the world into one of the longest, most expensive and most
ineffectual wars of recent Western history.
Hervé Asquin was a special correspondent for Agence France-Presse in Bonn and Berlin from 1994 to 2000. In 2003
and 2004 he audited the 56th session of the Institut des Hautes Etudes de Defense Nationale (IHEDN). He then spent two
years as the AFP's editor-in-chief before becoming the agency's Defense Correspondent from 2006 to 2010. He has
been covering the French presidency at the Elysee since the summer of 2012.
25
FEMEN – Femen
By Femen
The first book published by the founding members of FEMEN, explaining the goals of popfeminism and giving us their incredible story, in four-part harmony.
During the Euro 2012, their war cry was heard all around the world :
“Ukraine is not a brothel !” Inna, Sasha, Oksana and Anna, the
founders of the FEMEN activist movement, grew up in ordinary
families in two small Ukrainian towns. Each showed signs of unusual
independence early on, refusing to succumb to the overriding
hopelessness of life in post-Soviet Ukraine, determined to amount to
something in life.
Since 2008, the “gang of four” came up with a new kind of feminism,
a more radical and spectacular movement they would call “popfeminism”. Thus FEMEN, or “thigh” in Latin, was born.
Topless, and sporting floral crowns and high heel shoes, the four
women's slight frames were turned into vehicles of ideological
expression, placards for painting slogans and images. Humor,
dramatic staging, physical daring and the shock factor soon became
part of the foursome's highly-effective repertoire.
First in Ukraine, and then the world over, the four women have taken
on issues of gender inequality as well as poverty, discrimination,
dictatorships and religious dictates.
March 2013 – Document – 272 p.
EAN : 9782702144589
In Italy, they protested against the conduct of Silvio Berlusconi ; in France – dressed like housekeepers – against
that of Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The Ukrainian activists have climbed steeples and embassy walls, have burst in
on TV studios and polling places and – as the movement has radicalized – each of the four women has spent time
in prison. They have been sued for hooliganism in Ukraine and banned from entering countries abroad. Yet thanks
to unprecedented media coverage, FEMEN has found branches in over a dozen countries and their movement is
very strong in France, Germany and Brazil. According to them, this is just a beginning.
This is their story, told in their own words to journalist and Russian specialist Galia Ackerman.
Anna, Inna, Oksana and Sasha are the founder members of the FEMEN. Inna and Oksana fled to Paris to
escape persecution in Ukraine.
Journalist, translator and writer, Galia Ackerman, is a specialist of post-Soviet countries. She has published
numerous works, including Tchernobyl, retour sur un désastre (“Folio” Gallimard, 2007) and Le Roman du Juif universel,
by Elena Bonner and André Glucksmann (interviews and remarks collected by Galia Ackerman).
Foreign Sale : Polity Press (English World Rights), Arachne Publishing Co. (Korean).
26
KRACH MACHINE – The Crash Machine
How high-frequency traders are undermining the stock market
Frédéric Lelièvre & François Pilet
Both a meticulous investigation and a pedagogical tool for the general public exploring the stakes of
financial markets today, which can be read as a thriller.
In the past ten years, a new sort of speculator has taken control of financial markets :
HFTs, or high-frequency traders. These mathematics and physics virtuosos, hired by
hedge funds and major banks at exorbitant prices, develop algorithms able to
execute trading instructions at the speed of light. The resulting software, infinitely
more rapid than human traders, navigate financial markets on automatic pilot,
turning profits and manipulating markets in split seconds – with complete impunity.
Backed by a wealth of previously unpublished legal documents, the present
investigation reveals the hidden face of high-frequency trading.
Against a backdrop of tax evasion and industrial espionage, the book also looks at
the FBI's exposure – at the behest of Goldmann Sachs and the Société Générale –
of ambitious young traders accused of circumventing banking regulatory codes.
Financial enforcement authorities know perfectly well that traders using HFT “hot
rods” are manipulating the market. But they don't have the means to pursue them.
Do new rules therefore need to be put into place ? The United States has chosen not
to intervene. Will Europe be able to hold out against today's all-powerful finance
lobbies ?
Frédéric Lelièvre heads the Economics & Finance Section of the Swiss daily Le Temps.
François Pilet heads the Economics Section of the weekly Le Matin Dimanche.
March 2013 – Document , Economy
232 p. – EAN : 9782702144541
PORTE À PORTE – Door to Door, Reclaiming Democracy at the local level
Guillaume Liégey, Arthur Muller & Vincent Pons
A thought-provoking political work combining in-depth analysis and field experience and giving a unique
and relevant look at the successful campaigns of both President Obama and President Hollande.
Between January and May 2012, volunteers supporting the future president François
Hollande knocked on five million doors. It was the largest campaign ground game
ever organized in Europe. The project was initiated by a trio of friends, Guillaume,
Arthur and Vincent, former students of Harvard and MIT who had witnessed
firsthand the campaign, and the victory, of Barack Obama in 2008.
Convinced that the only way the Socialist Party would win the election was to follow
the American example and reconnect with citizens at the local level, the three authors
organized a mini “Obama-style” campaign during the 2010 regional elections. The
experience proved that the American approach could be effective in France and the
trio, in 2012, was put at the helm of Hollande's door-to-door campaign, overseeing a
team of one hundred fifty trainers and regional correspondents.
What they discovered sheds new light on the shortcomings of French democracy
today. The present eye-opening account, rich in experience but also surprises,
confirms that in order to win elections, political parties today need to remobilize
voters !
April 2013 – Document – 350 p.
EAN : 9782702144473
Guillaume Liégey is a graduate of HEC and Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Arthur Muller is a graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure and Harvard and a
professor of philosophy. Vincent Pons is a graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure
and is currently a PhD student of economics and political science at MIT, under the
direction of Esther Duflo.
27
ROUGE EST LA TERRE – Red Clay
Behind the scene at Roland-Garros
Bertrand Pulman
An unprecedented analysis of the logistics behind a major sporting event, Roland-Garros, and an original
and innovative approach to the role of sports in society today.
Major international sporting events are huge machines. The present work takes a
behind the scenes look at the Roland-Garros, highlighting the financial stakes and
logistical challenges as well as the worldwide media impact and cultural dimensions
of one of the most prestigious tennis tournaments in the world.
The author carried out an in-depth sociological investigation over a two year period,
studying both the preparations leading up to the tournament and the actual
tournament itself. In all, a total of 150 interviews were conducting, from tournament
director to court-side staff.
A competition like Roland-Garros is much more than a simple sports event. It is a
social phenomenon in and of itself. Every year, a half million spectators come to the
stadium. The matches are broadcast in over a 180 countries. To put together a show
this big, 10.000 people are hard at work backstage and Red Clay takes a look at the
numerous professions involved. While spectators may have some idea of the
dimensions of such an event, little do they realize its full extent.
May 2013 – Document , Sociology
295 p. – EAN : 9782702153598
Bertrand Pulman is a sociologist and an anthropologist. A professor at the Paris 13
University and the assistant director of the interdisciplinary institute of social sciences,
the IRIS, he is the author of Mille et une façons de faire des enfants : La Révolution des méthodes
de procréation (Calmann-Lévy, 2010).
A LA RECHERCHE DES PLANTES OUBLIÉES
Rediscovering Forgotten Plants. In Praise of Biodiversity
Stefano Padulosi
Virtually forgotten since Antiquity, arugula today can be found on tables around the world – thanks to the
work of a single man, Stefano Padulosi, a well-respected Italian scientist and a talented popularizer. This
book is a scientific work for the general public exploring a fascinating environmentalist theme.
Stefano Padulosi is a botanist explorer. For the past thirty years, he has traveled the
world, in search of little known or endangered vegetables and grains. Over the course
of his Jules Vernesque travels, he would pick up malaria, escape from lions and
wrongly believe he had eaten man !
But the journeys of this real-life Indiana Jones are more than a mere gustatory quest.
Padulosi has a Lost Ark all his own : preserving the biodiversity of mankind's food
supply. Indeed, since the “Green Revolution” (1960s – 1990s), since agriculture was
technologically transformed and cereal varieties genetically modified, our food variety
has seen a sharp decline and the biodiversity and the resistance of crop have taken a
serious hit. Today we only consume 25% of known plant species and 95% of our diet
is based on three cereals alone : wheat, rice and corn. Stefano Padulosi has also
demonstrated the potential of certain neglected but resilient plants which could play a
vital role in these times of climate change.
Stefano Padulosi was born in Pompeii in 1960. He works for the FAO in Rome, where
he directs a biodiversity laboratory specialized in neglected and underutilized plant species.
The present work was written in collaboration with Olivier Tosseri, who writes for the
magazine Historia and is a radio journalist in Rome.
28
February 2013 – Document
288 p. – EAN : 9782702144558
PLUS HAUT QUE MES RÊVES
Higher than my dreams
Nicolas Hulot
The renowned French environment activist Nicolas Hulot, gives us here the genesis of his
commitment to nature and its preservation.
“Why in the world did you ever get involved in politics ? That was the question I
heard, over and over again, regarding my candidacy during the 2012
presidential race ! A good question, usually asked by friends, but also by
strangers faithful to my cause but confused at times by my initiative. And a
fair question too, which, for anyone who knows me, it is time to answer,
no hard feelings.
True, throwing myself into the political arena was so foreign to both my
nature and aspirations, that even I had to consider that particular moment
within the framework of my entire life and, particularly, my 25-year-long
commitment to the cause of our planet. The fact is, although some may
see it as the expression of a narcissistic desire, the decision was as much an
act of hope as it was of despair – despair at the inertia of a society
confronted with greatest threats ever known to humanity.
This book is a progress report, a look at the ground covered, at a multitude
of experiences that could already have filled the space of a thousand lives.
A life beyond even my wildest dreams, that still surprises me every day,
and that has led me to develop an unwavering, almost physical relationship
with nature and the planet. A life of a world citizen, captivated – from one
meridian to the next – by a beauty that I cannot conceive as being
meaningless.
September 2013 – Biography – 336 p.
EAN : 9782702143988
Looking back at the past 57 years, from a singular childhood soon marked by Romain Gary‟s broken “promise at
dawn”, by way of the precocious call of the sea, I can see now that my calling that has expressed itself in countless
ways. Whether beach photographer or photojournalist, radio, cinema or TV personality, each of my life experiences
has helped shape both my thirst for adventure and wide open spaces as well as my insatiable curiosity for otherness.
Slowly but surely, I was led from an initial passion for speed and motorized vehicles to the development of a
respectful and informed understanding of the needs of our planet. From heedlessness to awareness, from
indifference to resolute commitment, my life course has been determined by adventures and encounters – that of
Paul Emile Victor and Nelson Mandela but also Théodore Monod and Chief Raoni – an emancipation that was
marked by an exceptional communion with nature, from whales to hummingbirds, or the Namib Desert to the
Aleutian Islands.
A life maintaining a fine balance between the savage and the civilized, between the Siberian reindeer herder and the
CAC40 executive, between the volcanoes of Indonesia and the heated debates of the Parisian ministries. A life,
today, entirely inhabited by the environmental crisis, which has forced me to strive, armed only with words, to
mobilize and to persuade, with varying degrees of success. A daily life taken up by encounters with an incessant
stream of political and financial figures, between trips, whom I strive to coalesce around these crucial issues, backed
by a variety of experts and scientists, the watchword being : Let's build a new world, today!”.
Nicolas Hulot
Nicolas Hulot is the passionate and tireless bearer of the ecological message, from the Johannesburg Summit to the village
school, from the President of the Republic to the farmer in the countryside. Man of camera, he has been the star presenter of
Ushuaïa Nature on French TV from 1987 to 2012, he is also a man of communication, of thought and action : he is absolutely
devoted to the environmental cause. His claim : “I was not born an ecologist, I became one”. He wrote Le Syndrôme du Titanic,
published by Calmann-Lévy in 2004 which has been published in mass-market paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche), in book
club editions (GLM & France Loisirs) and translated in Italian (Piemme) and Korean (Star Publishing). In 2009 he wrote Le
Syndrôme du Titanic 2 published by Calmann-Lévy which has been published in mass-market paperback (J‟ai Lu) and in bookclub edition (GLM).
29
BEAUCOUP DE CHANCE MALGRÉ TOUT
Lucky, In Spite of It All
Bernard Chaussegros
A deeply-moving and uplifting story, far from the usual stories of childhood illness, beautifully
written.
“That disease of mine, I'd kick it out !
Mom, she had explained things like this : My body is like what
we see on TV. Like that game I play with my cousins. Cops and
robbers. The robbers are the bad guys. The police the good guys.
The bad guys are on the run, are being chased by the police. The
doctor gives me medicine. Not the powders and syrups that I
used to take, but big bags full of a transparent liquid that drips
right into me, to chase away the robbers.
So I said to Mom : “That disease of mine, I'd kick it out !”
And I repeated it to Daddy, who looked very proud of me, and
then to the doctor, who also gave me a big smile”.
At the age of five, Anne-Lise is a little girl like any other. Smart and
lively, always full of beans, she is the life and soul of the family. And a
huge supporter of the local soccer team. Her childhood is a happy one.
until that fateful day in January 1992, when she is diagnosed with
leukemia.
All of a sudden, everything changes. Her life begins anew, is marked by
ongoing struggle. But the little girl takes it all in stride, with the
enthusiasm of a true soccer fan. To Anne-Lise, the illness is just
another match. A match that, after two years of tough trials, she ends
up winning.
January 2013 – Testimonial novel – 200 p.
EAN : 9782702144206
Years go by. A hideous shadow still hangs over head, but it doesn't stop her from fully embracing life. There is the
birth of her brother, and then her sister. Her first romance, and her first job... She experiences it all with a sense of
urgency, with a passion for life and happiness. Cancer wins the second round, however, and will eventually win the
tie-breaker.
Carefully avoiding overblown emotionalism, the story, written in the first person as if Anne-Lise were the narrator, is
both a personal diary and a memoir. Lucky, In Spite of it All celebrates the life of a young girl who never threw in the
towel.
Bernard Chaussegros is Anne-Lise's father. The managing director of a media company, he co-wrote the book
with the writer and journalist Jérémie Szpirglas.
30
UNE VIE DE PINTADE EN AFRIQUE DU SUD
The Pintades in South Africa
Sophie Bouillon
An immersion in the cultural diversity of South Africa, through the portraits of Johannesbourg,
Cape Town and its people. The journalist Sophie Bouillon guides us through the country, its
culture and its trends, not forgetting the tips and addresses that have made the Pintade series so
successful.
One of the worst things that could happen to a tourist in South
Africa is to miss out on Johannesburg. But the country's longneglected financial hub is emerging as a destination with attractions
able to rival those of its younger sister, Cape Town. This latter, of
course, is better served by Mother Nature in breathtaking landscapes.
But Johannesburg has all the flavor and momentum of a decidedly
modern city. And more and more globetrotters are coming to the
megalopolis to experience the unique urban energy of Jo'burg.
Whether Capetonian or Jo'burger, the girls of South Africa reflect the
identity of their respective cities. Capetonians are easy-going, athletic
and bronzed by the southern sun ; Jo'burgers, on the other hand, are
uncompromising and brave, excessive and impassioned.
Energetically rising to the challenge, Sophie Bouillon recounts in
particular the country's two great urban lionesses, in a lively and
hands-on insider's guide that is sure to please.
South Africa is an adventure, not just a jaunt ; a destination, not a
mere stopover. You don't just go hang out on the other side of the
globe by mere chance. From Cape Town yoga classes to hip Jo'burg
bars, by way of Soweto barbecues and Cape Malay curry restaurants,
Sophie gives us the lowdown on a fascinating country in the midst of
tremendous change.
October 2013 – Non-fiction – 384 p.
EAN : 9782702144978
Not to mention the multiple and multifaceted women of South Africa themselves, as diversity here truly is the
name of the game. Nelson Mandela worked toward reconciliation, equality and the end of apartheid and a lot
remains to be done in a country that counts eleven official languages and innumerable ways of life. Sophie takes us
under her wing and guides us through the urban jungle, explaining the safety codes for shambling through the
covey as we make our way from the bleachers of a cricket match to a local design studio, from a day spa getaway to
a Township greasy spoon.
Sophie Bouillon lived in Cape Town before moving to Johannesburg in 2008, where she works as a freelance
journalist for Libération, Courrier International, Radio Suisse Romande and XXI. In 2009, she was awarded the Prix
Albert Londres.
31
NATHALIE HUG
Nathalie Hug lives in eastern France and is the author of several thrillers and suspense novels published
with Jérôme Camut. With L'Enfant-rien, her first solo novel, she explores a new literary genre. She is also the author
of Miss Tick-Tacks published by Calmann-Lévy in March 2012 and 1, Rue des Petits-Pas, to be published in 2014.
LA DEMOISELLE DES TIC-TAC – Miss Tick-Tacks
Moselle, 1944. Under Allied bombs. Trapped in the cellar beneath the ruins of her house
Rosy, a fourtneen-year old German girl clings to her past in order to survive.
English
sample
translation
available
Miss Tick-Tacks is part of Fiction France Review‟s focus titles for translation.
“A thoughtful, accomplished novel” – Le Figaro Littéraire
“When the innocent become the playthings of adults and madmen…” – L’Express
“My new world is hardly wider than I am tall, and as long as two men. What remains of the ceiling
over my head is a tangle of blackened beams. I keep searching for a current of fresh air, some sign of a
presence. But there isn't even a glimmer of light. Everything is perfectly still. The sloping ground is
littered with debris of all sorts, the leftovers of our previous life, everything we had carefully packed away
in the hopes of better days”.
March 2012 – Fiction – 208 p.
EAN : 9782702142974
Rosy wants someone to come rescue her, but knows there's little hope : in the village,
she and her mother, both Germans, were hated and nobody ever gave them any help.
The truth is Mutti did admire Hitler, until her dying breath. In order to survive in her
underground cell, Rosy clings to memories, and her scant provisions. Her sole
companions are a single small hen and the horrible hairy spiders that uncle Eddy –
whom she had loved like a father – called “the tick-tacks”.
French Sales : Book-club edition (France Loisirs), Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche).
L‟ENFANT-RIEN– The Nothing Child
A story carried by the voice of a little boy, alternately serious and funny, perfectly rendered in a tone that
manages to disturb and excite the reader.
“A brilliant debut novel by Nathalie Hug who knows how to create this cruel
and gnawing feeling called remorse. The U-turn of the end is a real warning
shot, the reader cannot get away with.” – Le Magazine des livres
A lonely child, raised by an emotionally-crippled mother, searches for a father and
dreams of another life. Adrien lives with his loving but elusive mother, his halfsister Isabella, who is lucky enough to have a dad to come and get her
every weekend, and a kidney disease that binds him to stay at home. A quiet and
thoughtful child, Adrien suffers from the secrecy surrounding his birth.
One day, his mother gets hit by a car and is turned into a “heap-of-strawberriesand-cream”. Taken in by his half-sister's father, Adrien gets a chance at the life he
has always dreamed of.
Adrien, the Nothing-child, returns to his mother's side, and disappears into a world
of shadows, memories and dreams. The final twist transforms the whole story and
makes this dark and moving book sound like no other.
French Sales : Book-club edition (France Loisirs), Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche).
32
EAN : 9782702141670
GÉRARD MORDILLAT
Gérard Mordillat is a writer and a filmmaker. He has published numerous novels, including L’Attraction universelle,
Les Vivants et les Morts (Calmann-Lévy 2005), Notre part des ténèbres (Calmann-Lévy, 2008) and Ce que savait Jennie
(Rentrée Littéraire 2012). He and Jérôme Prieur are the coauthors of Corpus Christi, a three-part documentary film
on the origins of Christianity. He has made over twenty films and wrote the film adaptation of his novel, Les
Vivants et les Morts, for France 2.
CE QUE SAVAIT JENNIE – Jennie‟s Truth
A powerful short novel recounting the quest of a tragic yet sublime heroine inspired by hope and justice, a
brilliant account of hope and madness, inextricably intertwined.
“ The finely rendered and scathing portrayal of a couple thirsting for justice
in a lawless era.” – Le Monde des livres
“ The heroine is a warrior, fierce and deeply affecting.” – Lire
13-year-old Jennie hates Sundays, the worst day of the week, and this one is going
to be really bad. Her mother's boyfriend, Mike, is celebrating his birthday but he
kills himself on his motorcycle before their very eyes. Her mother, Olga, finds
herself on her own, raising Jennie and Jennie's half-sister, Malorie.
Three years later, Slimane and two babies enter the picture, bringing a semblance
of peace to the blended family. But a second accident brings the happy interlude to
an abrupt end. Jennie and her younger sisters and brother are separated and placed
in different foster homes. Jennie, transformed into a Mother Courage, is
determined to reunite her siblings and to take them to see the ocean, as Olga had
promised.
While traveling to the four corners of France, Jennie meets Quincy, an actor who
wants to stop acting. For better or worse, their fates are joined together, all the way
to the cliffs of Etretat.
This novel is a hard-hitting, short read that‟s impossible to put down and which
confirms the full scope of the author‟s literary talent.
August 2012 – Literary Fiction – 224 p.
EAN : 9782702143322
French Sales : Paperback edition
(Le Livre de Poche), Book-club
edition (GLM).
RUE DES RIGOLES – Rue des Rigoles
Gérard Mordillat's childhood is straight out of a Queneau novel. In a rich and lively
prose to read as a novel, he gives us a delightfully impressionistic and touchingly
personal account of growing up. Because even if life on the Rue des Rigoles –
literally the “street of the gutter” – wasn't all fun and games, there was no shortage
of friendship, love and solidarity.
“You'd do better at the Rue des Rigoles. Funerals are a lot cheaper there !”, a friend advises
the author who is planning his mother's funeral. Gérard Mordillat conjures up the
days following the war : the laughter and the tears, the working class 20th district of
Paris where he grew up with his father, a railroad company employee, and his
mother from across the Atlantic, an English teacher at the Berlitz School ; and the
darkness of the thirty odd movie theaters located between Belleville and
Ménilmontant, where the author's first kisses and his love for the 7th art will
become inextricably entwined. Both earthy and humorous, tender and sad, this is a
veritable ode to childhood.
February 2002 – Fiction – 283 p.
EAN : 9782702132685
33
GÉRARD MORDILLAT
LES VIVANTS ET LES MORTS – The Living and the Dead
WINNER OF 2005 RTL-LIRE PRIZE, 2006 FRANCE INFO READER‟S PRIZE
This is the story of a small town named Raussel, whose economy is dependant upon a plastic
fiber plant, Plastikos, or “Kos”, as everyone calls it. It is also the story of a young couple,
Rudi and Dallas, who both work at the plant. Finally, this is the story of the downsizing and
definitive closing of the plant and of the struggle of Rudi, Dallas and the other workers to
hold on to their jobs.
This book is written in the present tense and this choice is essential. Through the epic of fifty
or so characters, Les Vivants et les Morts, is the love story of a young couple carried along the
current of contemporary history. Their torments, revolt and secrets are also those of a town
where the struggle for survival sets people against each other. In a world where the financial
stakes are more important than human suffering, who will give up ? And who will survive ?
TV Sale : Archipel.
Foreign Sale : Hyundaemunhak (Korean).
January 2005 – Literary Fiction
658 p. – EAN : 9782702135389
NOTRE PART DES TÉNÈBRES – Our Own Darkest Shadows
On New Year‟s Eve, the staff at Mondial Laser‟s mechanical research laboratory boards a
luxury liner, the Nausicaa, with the stockholders and their guests for a champagne
celebration of a year of record-breaking profits.
While the live orchestra plays, the Nausicaa is hijacked. It heads north toward the sea of
Norway. Gary, Suz, Dargone, and roughly one hundred other workers from Mondial Laser
want to force the people for whom they are nothing but numbers to confront the cold, the
raging waves. They want them to feel real solitude, to savor the taste of being deserted.
From this point on, the tables are turned. Suddenly, the ship is being steered by those who had
previously lived from day-to-day, uncertain of tomorrow‟s bread, and anguished over their
future. Fear has shifted sides.
Foreign Sale : Munhakdongne (Korean).
496 p. – EAN : 9782702137581
ROUGE DANS LA BRUME – Seeing red through the Fog
A passionate love story and highly visual portrait of the modern working class.
Carvin and Aneth both work at the same factory, the first as a mechanic, the second as
human resources manager. Both, too, have seen their relationship become a distant souvenir.
Shortly after a terrible storm has broken out, shaking the trees and houses of the town, the
factory is abruptly shut down by its American shareholders, wiping out 400 jobs in one fell
swoop.
462 p. – EAN : 9782702141625
Meanwhile, the factory workers have risen up and taken over the site. The fire of the
rebellion, fanned by the winds of hope, encourages the strikers to join protesters in a second
and then a third factory. In the midst of this revolution, Aneth and Carvin fall for each other,
their mutual struggle forging the bonds of a surprising and heedless love. Whether crazy,
criminal or merely foolish, they have nothing left to lose, and a newfound life to win. In an
era of prevailing madness, they will have stood up and said no ; they will have made their
voices heard.
34
ELISE FONTENAILLE
Elise Fontenaille was born in Nancy and has worked as a journalist. She is the author of numerous novels,
including Les Disparues de Vancouver published by Grasset and which received the 2010 Prix Erckmann-Chatrian.
MA VIE PRÉCAIRE – My Precarious Life
A story on life on the edge, that is, balancing urgency, necessity and a certain taste for risk, her story
beautifully reflecting the vulnerability of life.
“The title itself reads like a promise : My Precarious Life. Mine, not that of another,
the possessive indicating a kind of pride, a claim to singularity. Once the book is
opened – and we are captured by its fast-paced prose – it is impossible to put
down.” – ELLE
“A year ago to the day, I put all of my books out on the sidewalk : hundreds and thousands of books.
They had covered the walls of my home, spreading, over time, like a second grainy skin, a lichen of sorts,
invading every inch of my apartment. Even the bathroom, the kitchen, the hall... Up until then, I
didn't think I was capable of getting rid of even a single book. If someone was even a tiny bit late
returning a book I'd lent them, I'd be physically sick, would experience an actual sense of loss, as if one
of my children – made out of paper – had been taken from me. [...]. Once the books were arranged in
their makeshift library, I went to the window, a little to one side behind the curtain, and with a pair of
binoculars I watched.”
When Elise is forced out of her flat in Paris, she gets rid of everything she owns,
including her books. Unencumbered by material possessions, she lives day by day,
letting her desires, her natural curiosity and the kindness of strangers decide her fate, a
happy or a tragic ending hanging in the balance at each new step.
April 2012 – Literary fiction
180 p. – EAN : 9782702143131
From a shack in Saint-Nazaire to a beach in Guyana, Elise will make friends, both real and virtual, will encounter a slumlord
and a cop-cum-writer, will experience heartbreak and exchange love money. She will sleep out in the open and be confined
to the walls of a convent. She will be jostled by chance, overwhelmed by choices and shaken up by encounters.
LE PALAIS DE MÉMOIRE – The Memory Palace
An evocative yet delightful tale, taking the reader down intellectual, spiritual and sensual roads in a
spellbinding journey.
From the depths of an opium den, the Jesuit Artus de Leys – deserted by faith and
torn by love – hesitates over the comfort of oblivion and the pain of remembrance.
The man he loves exists only in his mind now. To bring him back to life, Artus builds
an imaginary edifice inherited from an ancient art form : a memory palace.
With each addition to his palace, memories come flooding in, from his first visit to
China in the 1720‟s, invited by the Emperor Kangxi to train young scholars in the
Forbidden City, to his escapades in Paris and his friends of bygone days. He sees
himself riding in the forests of Manchuria alongside his beloved pupil, Jade, who he
initiates to the Ars Memorativa and the Christian faith. But Artus can't keep
reminders of their passion's fatal turn at bay, without seeing his palace of memory
collapse.
August 2011 – Literary fiction
162 p. – EAN : 9782702142431
35
NEVROSPIRAL – Nevrospiral
Patrick Olivier Meyer
“A finely crafted novel of electro-pop prose, either wildly uproarious or uproariously wild (mark the
appropriate box).” – Marie Claire
Nevrospiral intertwines the stories of four borderline characters : Ian, a blondaholic ;
Samuel, an aging rock-star ; Richard, an aspiring serial-killer and Anita, a clinically
unhappy, but delightfully sexy and smart blonde. Each character has one foot firmly
set on the ground and the other, dangerously hanging over the edge. The title alludes
not only to their troubled psyches but to a prescription drug they all have in common.
Ian, Richard, Anita and Samuel never meet. Their stories, however – in a blur of
lipstick and despair, hysteria and unbearable reverberation – bleed together like the
colours of a lurid pinwheel as they try to make a place for themselves in a world of
increasing absurdity.
Patrick Olivier Meyer was born in California in 1969. His family moved to the suburbs
of Paris, when he was two. Since then, he has taken up writing and been exploring ways
of moving on. Nevrospiral is his debut novel. He has also published Le Muscle et la Chair
(Calmann-Lévy 2013).
August 2010 – Fiction – 256 p.
EAN : 9782702141281
LILLIPUTIA – Lilliputia
Xavier Mauméjean
A fictional version of the Greek Prometheus myth, set in this very unusual episode in 20th century history.
This is the story of Elcana, a little person brought over from Eastern Europe to be a part of Lilliputia.
Lilliputia is an urban fantasy, based on the following bizarre historical fact : from 1904
to 1911, Coney Island, a neighbourhood in Brooklyn, NY, was home to a very
unusual amusement park called Dreamland. This park housed an attraction called
Lilliputia, better known as “The Midget City”, where 300 little people came to live in
an experimental community. Their city was built as a replica of 15th century
Nuremberg, Germany, but in miniature scale. There was a parliament, a Midget City
Fire Department, Midget theatre, a beach… The Midget City Fire Department went
so far as to set its own fires in order to create scenes for the park visitors.
Elcana, a member of the Fire Department, feels it is his mission to help free his
fellow Lilliputians from their oppressive state, or to “bring fire to them”, as it were.
With the help of a few giants from the Freakshow attraction, Elcana sets out to
destroy his own personal Zeus – the faceless and mysterious owner of Dreamland –
and ends up bringing Lilliputia to a very fiery end.
Xavier Mauméjean was born in 1963 and holds a degree in philosophy and the religious
studies. He is a member of a unusual club for detective novel critics “The Amateur
Beggars of Madrid” and a successful and acclaimed author. His works include Les Mémoires
de l’Homme Eléphant (Le Masque, Prix Gérardmer Fantasy in 2000) and La Ligue des héros
(Mnémos, Prix de l‟Imaginaire de la Ville de Bruxelles in 2003).
EAN : 9782702139424
Foreign Sale : Barbès Editore
(Italian).
36
ANATOLI KOROLIOV
Anatoli Koroliov has been a journalist for various city daily papers and for television, then went on to write radio
plays for broadcast in Moscow, which were translated for broadcast in Tallinn, Bratislava, Warsaw and Cologne.
He is now among the most influential post-modernist writers in Russia.
LA TÊTE DE GOGOL – Gogol‟s Head
“Everything in this book is smart and evil on the impossible beauty of Evil and the (very expensive) price
of freedom” – Le Figaro Magazine
WINNER OF THE 2000 ITALIAN PENNE LITERARY PRIZE
This imaginative novel centres on the theme of French and Russian Revolutions.
Will man choose the tragedy of freedom or the contentment of slavery ? Such is the
question raised by Koroliov following in the footsteps of Dostoïevski and
Ziamantine.
The title comes from a legend according to which Gogol‟s head disappeared from
his tomb. This metaphor of the severed head is the symbol of every revolution,
which, by definition, can be nothing other than bloody. This book dismisses myths
by borrowing Gogol‟s “grotesque” literary style and casts new light on today‟s
political issues (corruption, tyranny, violence…). This “Gogolian” story on the
theme of the severed heads raises the crucial question of the role of Evil in History.
Foreign Sale : Alfa (Turkish).
Reserved rights in Italian language.
253 p. – EAN : 9782702135471
ÊTRE HIERONYMUS BOSCH – Being Hieronymus Bosch
WINNER OF THE REVUE ZNAMIA PRIZE and of the prestigious APOLLON GRIGORIEV PRIZE.
In 1970, the narrator, a young graduate from Perm University‟s school of arts, is
plopped into an unfamiliar world : neither a camp nor a prison, it resembles both. As
its investigating magistrate, the young man is expected to conduct an inquest into all
crimes committed within the zone. His briefcase contains the first pages of a novel
The Ship of Fools, a totally invented biography of Dutch painter Hieronymus
Bosch. He continues working on his novel and regularly goes to the region‟s only
library with reproductions of The Garden of Earthly Delights. Clearly, Bosch‟s Hell aptly
describes his own life. He fills in the blanks in Bosch‟s life by using his own
imagination border on the ludicrous.
January 2008 – Fiction
336 p. – EAN : 9782702138540
The position of investigating judge is hardly flattering, but had he refused the job,
the young lieutenant would have wound up in the position of the very people he was
expected to keep locked up. No wonder then that he plunged into art and literature,
as a means of survival. This novel makes no claims to resistance but merely details
what governs human relations in situations of violence. Situated between the comical
and the unbearable, the trajectory of a 20th century writer borders the territories of
madness and suffering, from the Renaissance to modern day.
37
ET PUIS, PAULETTE… – And Then Came Paulette…
Barbara Constantine
After her 2010 best-seller Tom, petit Tom, tout petit homme, Tom, Barbara Constantine succeeds
once again to create a real gem and takes the reader to a moving and strong story, full of life,
humor and hope. You will smile, be teary-eyed and above all feel good.
RIGHTS SOLD IN 16 LANGUAGES
PRIX DES LIBRAIRES - LE LIVRE DE POCHE 2013
Ferdinand lives all by himself on his big empty farm. His son, daughter and
grandchildren have all moved away.
One day his neighbour Marceline shows up after a terrible storm. With his
usual awkwardness, Ferdinand invites her to stay. Then his best friend Guy, a
recent widower at loose ends, moves in. Lastly come the Lumière sisters,
fleeing a monster of a nephew bent on getting their home.
Thus a strange 67 to 95 year-old quintet is formed. An odd arrangement, to
say the least, that little by little becomes the norm. When the health needs of
the eldest prove too challenging, the quintet decides to recruit a suitable
candidate at a nearby nursing school, who, in exchange for a few hours work a
week, will be given room and board. Muriel takes them up on it. Then at the
local agricultural school, Kim is enlisted to help out with the garden.
One night an increasingly round and nauseous Muriel gives birth – both to her
own surprise and that of everyone else – to a little girl, an unwanted addition
in Muriel's eye... But our new-formed fivesome doesn't see things in the same
light... Baby Paulette will be well looked after indeed !
EAN : 9782702141670
flowers and the trees grow, and the cats, and the birds, and the squirrels... She is the author of Allumer le chat (2007),
A Mélie, sans mélo (2009) and the best-sellersTom, petit Tom, tout petit homme, Tom (2010) and And then came Paulette
(2012).
French Sales : Book-club editions (GLM & France Loisirs), Large print edition (Feryane), Audio-book edition (Audiolib),
Paperback editions (Le Livre de Poche adult & young-adult editions), Condensed edition (Selection du Reader’s Digest).
Foreign Sales : MacLehose Press (World English), Einaudi Stile Libero (Italian), Seix Barral (World Spanish), Rowohlt Kindler
(German), Intrinseca (Portuguese/Brazil), Meulenhoff/Boekerij (Dutch), Kinneret Zmora (Hebrew), Can Yayinlari (Turkish),
Shanghai 99 (Simplified Chinese), Munhakdongne (Korean), Bertrand (Portuguese), Yuan-Liou Publishing (Complex Chinese),
Empuries/Grup62 (Catalan), Sekwa Förlag (Swedish), Arvids (Danish), Azbooka-Atticus (Russian).
Movie Sale : TF1 DA.
38
TOM, PETIT TOM, TOUT PETIT HOMME, TOM
Tom, Little Tom, Little Man, Tom
Barbara Constantine
This is the heart-warming story of a little boy who acts like an adult and a mother who acts like a
child.
The third novel of Barbara Constantine, best selling author
translated in 19 languages
“A concentrated dose of vitamins to brighten your life ! Happiness,
pleasure…things you absolutely need right now for a welcome change of
pace.” – Gérard Collard, bookseller
“Barbara Constantine tenderly paints the lives of regular people, and
knows like no one else how to bring them to life to share with us the mix
of solemnity and irony that make up their everyday lives.” – Prima
“Barbara Constantine helps us see la vie en rose, and it feels fabulous!” –
Femmes d‟Aujourd‟hui.
Tom, an eleven-year-old boy, lives with his young mother, Joss. She was
thirteen when she gave birth to Tom. As Joss has a penchant for going out,
falling in love and disappearing on weekends, Tom is often left to his own
devices and has learned to fend for himself. Plus, the little money his mother
does earn is scrupulously set aside to pay for breast reduction surgery. Joss
wants men to pay attention to her for something more than just her chest.
Tom, therefore, slips quietly into his neighbours' vegetable gardens for food,
digging up carrots and potatoes... Before leaving, however, he carefully replants
and waters everything he has dug up.
January 2010 – Commercial fiction
260 p. – EAN : 978270214063
One day, he enters a new garden and comes across Madeleine, an old woman
who had been lying in the middle of her cabbage patch for two whole days.
Without Tom's help, she would most certainly have died.
flowers and the trees grow, and the cats, and the birds, and the squirrels... She is the author of Allumer le chat (2007),
A Mélie, sans mélo (2009) and the best-sellersTom, petit Tom, tout petit homme, Tom (2010) and And then came Paulette
(2012).
French Sales : Paperback editions (Le Livre de Poche adult & young-adult editions),
Large print edition (Feryane), Book-club editions (GLM & France Loisirs).
Foreign Sales : Blanvalet (German), Fazi Editore (Italian), Seix Barral (World Spanish),
Grup 62 (Catalan), Munhakdongne (Korean), Azbooka-Atticus (Russian), Könyvmolyképző Kiadó (Hongrois),
Yuan-Liou Publishing (Complex Chinese), Albatros media (Czech), La Maison des femmes (Vietnamese), Sekwa Förlag (Swedish).
Movie Sale : Rhamsa Productions.
39
BARBARA CONSTANTINE
À MÉLIE, SANS MÉLO – To Mélie, without Melodrama
A fantastic dose of refreshment, humor and emotion ! “ This book invites us to take the time to live, to love
from 10 to 78, to escape the infernal pace of work, illness and death.” – ELLE
Mélie is 72 and lives alone in the countryside. Her granddaughter, Clara, 10year-old, is coming to spend the whole summer with her for the first time. The
evening before her arrival, Mélie learns that she has some serious health
problems and should begin a heavy treatment immediately…too bad, she says !
But her top priority is her dear Clarinette !
Indeed the grandma is really not into melodrama and prefers to spend her
summer (perhaps her last ?) making wonderful memories for Clara : funny ones,
like watching bamboo grow while listening to La Traviata, singing songs in the
rain, or tasting the weeds growing on trail edges.
And there‟s also old Marcel, who teaches Clara how to do handy work, and
Fanette, her mother, who wants to find a step-father for Clara, or Bello her
godfather, who wants to include her in his group of musical godchildren… Of
course, since life always holds surprises, Mélie is finally going to fall in love.
French Sales : Book-club edition (GLM), Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche),
EAN : 9782702139226
Large print edition (Feryane).
Foreign Sales : Cairo Editore (Italian), Azbooka-Atticus (Russian).
ALLUMER LE CHAT– Turn on the Cat
Barbara Constantine‟s first novel, Allumer le Chat is about fairly normal
folks who rather naturally experience incredibly weird things.
There is the embalmer at a funeral home who takes up photography as a hobby, a
child who learns healing from his pot-smoking grandpa, a cat convinced of being
an intellectual, and… well, you get the drift.
This is a book written to make us laugh. It is not a nice book. Between the lines is
a running critique of annoying idiots. However, it is infused with a certain
tenderness that pays homage to simple lives and to the pride of humble spirits, to
those who do not run with the pack, who pass inconspicuously. It is a tribute to
“un-beautiful” people. The short chapters, titled much like silent movies, are
written in a spoken style. It is a book that begs to be seen and listened to. The odd,
quirky characters will stick in your memory for a long time because you know that
they really do exist – you have seen them !
French Sales : Book-club edition (GLM), Paperback edition (Points Seuil).
Foreign Sale : Cairo Editore (Italian).
40
EAN : 9782702137567
HÔTEL MIRANDA – Hotel Miranda
Iman Bassalah
“Iman Bassalah‟s exquisite novel is a poignant missive from that inviolate
stronghold, from that pocket of resistance denouncing dictatorships –
wether marital or political – around the world : the human heart.” – ELLE
20-year-old Selma boarded, after spending time in a Tunisian jail, an overloaded
vessel bound for Lampedusa. The Arab Spring had not yet occurred. Ever since
her boyfriend had mysteriously disappeared, the sole purpose of her life had been
to get to Paris. She leaves behind her mother, Zineb and her adorable brother,
Rabih – whose mental handicap had turned him into an avid collector of photos
of Ben Ali, in his mind a fabulous king.
Meanwhile, Louise is desperate to find a hotel room in Paris. She is determined
not to spend another day trapped by her relationship and the dictates of perfect
motherhood.
Thus do our two runaways find themselves making a temporary last stop at the
Hotel Miranda, a no star hotel, home to a cast of luminous characters with secret
sorrows. There is Osmani, the goodhearted old Turk ; Moncef, the proprietor with
a booming laugh ; Warda, the Lebanese connoisseur of good bread ; Ilan, the
Israeli tourist ; Mama Fanta, the Malian matron ; Taoufik, the emergency room
doctor ; all of whom will give Selma and Louise a warm welcome to their new
home, a safe haven where they will be able to make a fresh start, to rebuild their
lives at last.
Iman Bassalah is a journalist and a writer who divides her time between France, Italy
and Tunisia. She is the author of numerous works, essays and short stories. Hotel
Miranda is her first novel.
May 2012 – Commercial Fiction
240 p. – EAN : 9782702143391
Foreign Sale : Newton Compton
(Italian).
L‘IRANIENNE – The Iranian Woman
Maurice Bigio
The story of one woman's determination to forge a new destiny for both her son and her country. Based on
an international Iranian figure, Shirin Ebadi, and her fight for human rights.
“ A masterful novel of Iran today. Powerful and moving.” – Biba
Shirine is an Iranian, a mother and a lawyer. A staunch defender of freedom of
thought, of women's rights, of hope. Jew, she had converted to Islam out of love to
marry Shapour, a respected scientist. Their son, Shantia, is afflicted with a form of
muscular dystrophy transmitted on the mother's side. Shirine refuses to give in to
guilt but her convictions have put up a wall between herself and her husband, who,
due to the illness of Shantia, progressively turned to be a religious fanatic.
Despite the threats, Shirine continues braving the arbitrary decrees of Iranian society:
she disobeys her husband and continues her work as a lawyer. Her indomitable spirit
soon lands her in jail and after months of solitary confinement, she is released, only
to find her son has been placed with a “new mother” and her husband has
repudiated her. She has nothing left to lose now and is determined to save her son.
May 2012 – Commercial Fiction
264 p. – EAN : 9782702143384
Foreign sale : Newton Compton
Maurice Bigio was born in Cairo and lives in France. A staunch defender of human
rights, he has closely followed the political, social and religious evolution of the MiddleEast region. He won the Prix du Livre Pourpre 2013 for this novel.
(Italian).
41
LA MÉMOIRE DES AUTRES – Other People‟s Memories
Annelise Corbrion
A novel that challenges our convictions for which the author was awarded the 2012 Prix Nouveau Talent
Bouygues Télécom-Metro.
Emma is having a hard time getting over her parents' sudden death. She does find
some comfort, however, in her work as a computer graphics artist specialized in
touching up old photographs. Immersing herself in the lives of perfect strangers,
frozen in eternal happiness, she restores some of the original splendor of memories
tarnished over time.
Little does she expect the “paranormal” turn her life is about to take when she
receives a mysterious email one day. Its sender is none other than a man from one of
the photos she had restored – a man who had died in the 1940s ! He says he needs
her help, as do the other ghosts whose requests soon start inundating her inbox.
Why are all of these departed souls getting in touch with her ? Emma unwittingly
becomes their messenger, carrying out their last wishes to defy oblivion and establish
truth. Until she gets one too many emails – one that involves her personally. Soon she
is off on dangerous investigation of memories that don't quite belong to the past. The
departed may have brought Emma back to life, but she is in for a wild ride... Just how
far will Emma be willing to go in her quest for truth ?
April 2012 – Commercial Fiction
210 p. – EAN : 9782702141885
Annelise Corbrion lives in the east of France. La Mémoire des autres is her debut novel.
Foreign Sale : Fabbri (Italian).
LE BERCEAU DE LA HONTE – The Cradle of Shame
Mano Gentil
A story of love, with all of its contradictions, that illuminates a little-known chapter of Nazi policies intent
on turning reproduction into a weapon for victory.
The Third Reich, with its reproduction of the pure race – the Aryan – Marthe
could care less about all that. She loves Johannes, period. He is an SS officer,
handsome, considerate and, more importantly, the key to escaping her miserable
fate as a Picard peasant.
Thanks to him, she is accepted into one of the most confidential programs : the
Lebensborn. Love and ambition, but also ingenuity, soon see her settled in the
Heim des Mésanges, the sole French maternity facility for expanding the Germanic
race. There she and Johannes studiously collaborate on fulfilling their mission of
having a child.
Marthe has a new life, and a new name. Now she is Agatha, the beautiful Agatha.
But these carefree days are over all too soon. The debacle will force the young
mother to abandon her comfortable life at the “Heim des Mésanges”. Alone.
Mano Gentil was born in 1961. She has worked as a copywriter, a journalist and an
office manager. She has written a dozen novels for adults and adolescents, all of which
have dealt with questions of humanity. Her previous novel, Dans la tête des autres, was
published by Calmann-Lévy in 2010.
January 2013 – Commercial Fiction
240p. – EAN : 9782702144329
French Sale : Large print edition
(VDB).
42
L’AVANT-DERNIÈRE CHANCE – The Next-to-Last Chance
Caroline Vermalle
This touching and convincing story is an artful mix of cheeky dialogue and the expression of feelings and
emotions that are hard to share. The German edition of L‟Avant-dernière chance, Denn das Glück ist eine Reise,
has been a best-seller in Germany.
While working on the filming of a movie in London, Adèle, an independent young
French intern, receives an unexpected text message from beyond the grave ! Indeed,
her grandfather, who passed away a few days earlier, writes to wish her happy
birthday… This odd event causes Adèle to remember the past few months, in an
attempt to make sense out of things.
Her Grandpa Georges, aged 83, a homebody and avid gardener suddenly decided to
set off on a road trip around France with his friend. Adèle, worried about his fragile
health when she found out, asked that he send her daily updates by text message.
And thus began their unique correspondence, a seemingly simple form of
communication which brought them back together after ten years apart. Could texting
be a way for them to nurture their close relationship even when separated by death ?
Caroline Vermalle worked on documentaries for BBC in London for 7 years. She now
lives in Paris and runs an architectural firm. L’Avant-dernière chance is her debut novel and
won the Prix Nouveau Talent Bouygues in 2009 and the 2011 Prix Chronos.
March 2009 – Fiction – 252 p.
EAN : 9782702139998
French Sales : Large print edition (A vue d’oeil), Condensed edition (Sélection du Reader’s Digest ), Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche Jeunesse).
Foreign Sales : Lübbe (German), Ediciones B (Spanish), Ecus Publishing (Complex Chinese), Gallic Books (English World rights).
UNE TERRE POUR DEMAIN – A Home for Future Generations
Gérard Georges
A young British family shakes up the life of a solitary, stubborn farmer in a small village in Auvergne.
Against all odds, a lasting friendship will form.
In the tiny French hamlet of Garachou, the population is 1 : Old Ferdinand
Pelissier who raises a few animals along with his dog Gamine. Ferdinand‟s only love
Yvette, has disappeared a long time ago, along with all of his friends.
But one October evening, after milking time, a couple of British city-dwellers
stumble into his yard. Ferdinand grabs his hunting rifle and refuses to let them in.
The foreigners return the next day, along with the mayor : they are buying the
neighbouring farm in ruins to turn it into a bed and breakfast.
Thus begins a very tense lesson of understanding between an urban British family
dreaming of getting back in touch with nature and a cantankerous old French loner.
Slowly, thanks to the couple‟s charming little girl, Peggy, a beautiful and sincere
friendship blooms across cultures and generations. Until one day, Ferdinand is
hospitalized and diagnosed with pneumonia.
November 2010 – Fiction – 270 p.
EAN : 9782702141588
Gérard Georges worked as a radio journalist, teacher and school director before
becoming a full-time writer.
French Sale : Large print edition (VDB).
Foreign Sales : Thiele & Brandstätter Verlag GmbH (German), Piper Verlag (German paperback).
43
AGNÈS ABÉCASSIS
Agnès Abécassis was born in 1972. She started her career as a writer and an illustrator for a women's health
magazine. A former screenwriter, she is also a journalist and a literary chronicler for a number of magazines. She is
the author of the bestselling Les Tribulations d’une jeune divorcée ; Au secours, il veut m’épouser !, a hilarious text on the
joys of coupledom ; as well as Toubib or not toubib ; Chouette, une ride ! ; Soirée Sushi and Le Théorème de Cupidon, a
romantic comedy set in the movie industry.
LE THÉORÈME DE CUPIDON – Cupid‟s Theorem
“Between sparkling situations and compelling twists, Agnès Abécassis gives us a delicious romantic comedy
in two voices, one female and one that has transformed.” – La Nouvelle République
“Bubbly, energetic, Agnès Abécassis gave a sweep to the gloom, and
gives us lightness and cheerfulness, with a beautiful energy which
become trademark.” – Question de femmes
Nothing happens by chance. Indeed, even love has its laws, a mathematical law, in
our case the Cupid's theorem : two parallel lines that never converge. Unless, that
is, if they meet up at an intersection and fall in love.
Take, for example, the trajectories of our lovebirds with seemingly antipodean
expectations. Adélaïde, an exuberant, straight-forward and funny casting director –
and fed up with love – and Philéas, an awkward, serious and shy filmmaker – with
sex on the brain.
Each in turn relates the ins and outs of daily life, revealing, along the way, the failures
of one very short-sighted cherub... who finally gets it right !
Movie Sale : Nexus Factory.
March 2011 – Commercial fiction
240 p. – EAN : 9782702141830
SOIRÉE SUSHI – Sushi Night
A humorous and moving picture of women and single mothers, around delicious sushi for a sharedexperiences party. And when you are over, nothing is better than low-calorie Japanese food !
Rebecca and a group of recently divorced, separated, dumped and free-at-last
girlfriends are meeting at Hortense‟s for a night on the town. When Hortense
receives a mysterious text from her teenage son saying he‟ll be home late, they
decide to stay put and order in sushi while waiting for her missing son to
reappear.
Follows an evening serving up a full platter of shared experiences, from the art of
immediately recognizing “Mr. Wrong” to the troubles of raising teenage children :
“One day you're changing their diapers. The next they're making you a macaroni necklace. The
day after they're already stealing your car”.
The party continues, one comical anecdote after another, in an atmosphere of
laughter and fellowship. But it‟s getting later and later and still no sign of
Hortense‟s son Fergus – “Could he have gotten lost in cyberspace while playing a video
game ? Or be bedridden with a critical case of acne ?” – they begin to seriously worry.
Because wild single mothers though they are, they are first and foremost mothers.
44
March 2010 – Commercial Fiction
220 p. – EAN : 9782702140864
AGNÈS ABÉCASSIS
CHOUETTE, UNE RIDE ! – Great, a wrinkle !
In search of something that will spice up your life ? Here is the story of
Anoushka, a hilarious read that teaches you with simplicity that life goes on
and still surprises you, at any age of your life.
Anoushka writes thrillers. She thought she was pretty young until a humiliating series of
tiny events brought her to the devastating realization that she had hit 36. Technically,
that‟s almost 40. Therefore, pushing 50. Mired in dull day-to-day existence, Anoushka
starts to feel she is suffocating. Her carefree youth now seems so distant.
When her cousin marries a man in a far-flung corner of the country, she and her best
friend set off to attend the wedding. The two women take advantage of the escape to
regress into adolescence until a strikingly handsome mysterious man saves her from
drowning in the swimming pool and offers to give her and her friends a ride home. But
the ride ends up taking much longer than expected.
Foreign Sale : Albatros (Czech).
February 2010 – Commercial Fiction
350 p. – EAN : 9782702140703
TOUBIB OR NOT TOUBIB – What‟s Up Doc ?
For a good laugh call, just walk in a certain Parisian medical office where
comical ailments, outlandish pathologies – or a mixture of both – are sure to
greet you !
Yohanna Béhar, a general practitioner, is a seemingly “normal” married mother of two.
Normal, that is, except for a crippling lack of self-confidence, a problem she decides to
vanquish with the help of a famed neuropsychiatrist. The doctor in question suggests
hypnosis. Yohanna needs to relive certain experiences of her past in order to determine
the source of her insecurity. The situation gets out of hand, however, and the patient
unwittingly finds herself doted with an array of non-prescribed powers : telepathy,
telekinesis, a prodigious memory...
What in the world could the doc be up to ? Yohanna is off on a fantastic, whirlwind of a
journey in which a cure-all sense of humour is definitely what the doctor ordered.
270 p. – EAN : 9782702138793
AU SECOURS IL VEUT M‟ÉPOUSER– Help ! He wants to marry me !
“A wild imagination and a humoristic romp into the messy business of
divorce. Unabashed derision for what is supposed to be one of the most
traumatizing events in any woman‟s life.” – ELLE
Déborah is back with more of the same irreverent and self-mocking humor as in Agnès
Abécassis‟ first novel, Woes of a Young Divorcee. She returns with her two little girls, her
wacky girlfriends, and the Prince Charming she met on the Internet. Wait, aren‟t fairy
tales supposed to have a fairy-tale ending ? Alas, real life has its way of shaping events its
own way. And in real life Déborah is incurably jealous. She is assailed by doubts, throws
frequent temper tantrums, and makes life miserable for the man who loves her.
Fortunately for her, he also loves the tantrum-throwing side of her. He loves her so
much that he is starting to entertain ideas of matrimony. Whoa, slow down ! From
Déborah‟s point of view, marriage carries with it the serious risk of a second divorce. No
way !
French Sales : Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche), Book-club edition (France Loisirs).
Foreign Sales : Motto (Czech), Nha Nam (Vietnamese), AST (Russian).
45
264 p. – EAN : 9782702137598
L’INCONNUE – The Unknown
Philippe Nonie
WINNER OF THE 2011 Bouygues NEW TALENT PRIZE
A contemporary travel into time and space which invites us into a deep
introspection about death, life and love.
One night. An unexpected encounter. A life is turned upside down. This is the
story of Hubert, an expatriate Australian, trader workaholic, left behind by his wife
eight months earlier. That night, a stranger, the Unknown, shows up at his door
and tells him about his approaching end. She offered him an eerie market.
Twenty years later, despite her parents are expressing a feeling that something bad
is going to happen, Céline decides to spend time on the beaches of the Landes. A
journey that will change the course of her life.
Indeed, soon, to save the man she loves, the young girl will have to penetrate a
terrible family secret, to confront the unthinkable and to set out on an incredible
quest to find the unknown.
April 2008 – Commercial fiction
288 p. – EAN : 9782702139028
Born in 1965, Philippe Nonie lives in the south of France. He thrives on TV series
and contemporary technologies and won the 2011 Prix Nouveau Talent with
L’Inconnue, his first novel.
IMPOSTURES SUR PAPIER GLACÉ – Frauds on Glossy Paper
Catherine Rambert
Brisk, spirited, caustic, written with a sharp scalpel on her MacBook, at home and on the job, Catherine
Rambert‟s first novel takes a look at the pettiness of today‟s VIPs with biting humour and cynicism.
Editor in chief of Super Star, a popular celebrity magazine, Bérengère de
Cabrières is a fraud. Superficial, carefree, trivial, incompetent, her main goal in life
is attending lavish dinners, VIP-only parties, private sales, and first showings.
Everyone is predicting and anxiously awaiting her fall.
Steeped in the jet-set mind-set in all its ephemeral glory, Bérengère suffers a
crushing blow when her boyfriend Victor announces that he is leaving her for an
older and uglier woman. At the age of 35, she winds up alone. Though wounded in
her pride, she nevertheless pursues her decadent downward spiral.
Meanwhile, back at the office, rivals are eyeing her job. Just when she feels she has
reached rock bottom, a paparazzo snaps a photo of her exiting a rather naughty
party. Here, she faces a double challenge : wining back her flighty boyfriend or
bringing her adversaries down a peg by securing her position as the most successful
editor in chief in the celebrity magazine sector. Will Bérengère manage to foil the
plots being hatched against her ?
Catherine Rambert is a journalist, and editor in chief of a major television magazine,
Télé Star. She is also the author of Calmann-Lévy series “Petites Philosophies”.
April 2007 – Commercial fiction – 288 p.
EAN : 9782846122191
Foreign Sale : Writer’s Publishing
House (Simplified Chinese).
46
PIERRE LEMAITRE
Pierre Lemaitre is a scriptwriter for TV and cinema. His first novel, Travail Soigné (Éditions du Masque) received
the Festival de Cognac Prize in 2006. His third novel, Cadres noirs won the 2010 European Thriller Prize – Le
Point.
ROBE DE MARIÉ – The Groom Wore White
“Though the French suspense novel often seems a bit tentative next to the machine of English-language
suspense, this one comes to shake away our misconceptions and demonstrate a morbidly efficient „French
touch‟.” – Atmosphères
Sophie Auverney, the thirty-year-old nanny of little Loïc, feels she is losing her
mind, she forgets details, does or errands unexpected things. Sophie is haunted by
her terrible past. Vincent, her husband, committed suicide after a tragic car
accident had left him paralyzed and there have been other deaths too among her
loved ones.
One day, she awakens from a deep sleep and finds Loïc in his bed, strangled by a
shoelace. Panic-stricken, Sophie runs away. A kind stranger crosses her path at the
train station and invites Sophie to her house. There, Sophie steals her ID then
wakes once again from a deep sleep to discover the young woman‟s lifeless body.
Did Sophie stab her ? She doesn‟t recall anything.
Knowing that the police are already searching for her, she goes into hiding. Is she a
cold-blooded murderer ? What is going on ?
French Sales : Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche ), Book-club editions
(GLM & France Loisirs), Audio-book edition (CDL).
January 2009 – Suspense fiction
286 p. – EAN :9782702139752
Movie Sale : Alexandre Films.
Foreign Sales : Ullstein (German), House of Books (Dutch), Könyvmolyképzö Kiadó (Hungarian), Kashiwa Shobo (Japanese),
Fish+Fish (Complex Chinese), Muza (Polish), Dasan Books (Korean), Fazi Editore (Italian), Azbooka-Atticus (Russian),
Editora Nemo – Autentica (Portuguese/Brazil), MacLehose Press (English World rights).
CADRES NOIRS – High-Profile Management
WINNER OF THE 2010 PRIX DU POLAR EUROPÉEN - LE POINT
“Lemaitre brilliantly explores an explosive social reality” – Le Parisien
57-year-old Alain Delambre, former human resources manager, has been
unemployed for five years. Unable to find work in his field, he has accepted a menial
job as an inventory clerk at a ridiculously low salary. With the support of his wife
Nicole and their two daughters, he tries his best to make do. Then one day he comes
across an unexpected job offer that fits his profile to a T, except for his age. Not to be
put off, he goes in to the recruitment agency ready to give it all.
Short-listed along with two other candidates, he is informed that the management's
final decision will depend on how well he reacts under intense pressure, that is in a
simulated hostage-taking situation. Determined to land the job at all costs, our
protagonist agrees to play the game, setting off an unstoppable chain of events... Our
disillusioned and scorned hero may be a “grandpa boomer”, but he is more than ready
to prove that he too is an expert at making the most of any opportunity that comes
his way. A remarkably taut, well-crafted novel and a blistering attack on the cynicism
and snobbery of corporate bigwigs and management techniques.
February 2010 – Suspense fiction
350 p. – EAN : 9782702140703
Foreign Sales : Fazi Editore (Italian), Pegasus Yayinlari (Turkish), House of Books (Dutch),
Muza (Polish), Dasan Books (Korean), Editora Nemo – Autentica (Portuguese/Brazil).
47
LA NUIT DES ENFANTS-ROIS – The Prodigies
Bernard Lenteric
The electrifying and pulse-pounding novel of a whole generation.
The most powerful computer on Earth has been equipped with a program to
detect child prodigies. Jimbo Farrar, a young man, prodigy, became in charge of
this operation, created for dozens of years but forgotten by all. One day, whereas it
has never discovered anything that really matters, the computer alerts Jimbo : seven
child prodigies have been localized. Jimbo is the only one to know and he will keep
their existence secret.
Some years later : New York City, nighttime in Central Park. Seven teenagers are
brutally attacked, beaten and sexually abused. All seven victims, however, happen
to be the child prodigies, linked what is more by a single mind, a single spirit. Thus
is born their inexorable hatred of the world, hatred only to be quenched by a series
of robberies and perfect crimes.
First publication : May 1992
New release : May 2011
Fiction – Thriller – 350 p.
EAN : 9782863914526
If there were eight of them, the world would be theirs – and the long night of the
Prodigies would come at last… Jimbo knows it and is trying desperately to stop
them... Unless, of course, he is on their side !
Bernard Lenteric was born in 1944 and died in march 2009. He has been a filmmaker
before becoming a successful writer.
Movie Sale : The Prodigies, released on June 2011 and produced by Fidélité Productions.
Foreign Sales : Salani (Italian), Demipage (World Spanish).
NE PLUS MOURIR, JAMAIS – I Won‟t Die Ever
Marc Eisenchteter
“This thriller never get a break and can be enjoyed as a good movie : without
inhibitions and in one breath.” – Atmosphères
Isabelle needed fifteen years to come out of her coma. When she wakes up, she is
42. This novel is about her struggle to reclaim the life she had before she was
involved in a multiple-car crash that tragically left her in a coma on her way to the
hospital to give birth. Fortunately, the baby survived and was named Nora. During
her coma, her husband, Marwen, has not only taken over her small travel agency, he
has turned it into a financial empire managed by a board of directors, who find her
presence unwelcome. Marwen has also been sharing his bed with Liz, the former
babysitter. Isabelle‟s already distressing situation is about to get even worse, for Nora
refuses to recognize her as her mother, as Liz raised her all these years.
Facing this brazen new world and trying to rebuild her weakened motor, mental and
language skills, she must not let herself be fooled by appearances, and must carefully
avoid the deadly traps being set for her. Deprived of her family life, Isabelle throws
herself into her work and is determined to show her adversaries their errors.
April 2008 – Suspense fiction – 288 p.
EAN : 9782702139028
Marc Eisenchteter was born in Algiers, Algeria in 1960. He majored in film studies at
New York University and is the scriptwriter of numerous successful French TV series
(PJ, Avocats et Associés, etc.). He has written two detective novels, Les Yeux Rouges de
Pékin and Le Rallye des Incas, published by Le Fleuve Noir in 1998 and 2006.
48
NOCES DE PAILLE – Straw Wedding
Yves Hugues
A masterfully-crafted dark novel, full of humour, in two acts from the
tender meeting between a young taxidermist and a lovely old couple with
a weird wish to a suffocating paranoia and a astounding outcome.
Lukas, a taxidermist, meets clients for an unexpected mission. Charlotte and
Léonce have been together for fifty years and they toy with the crazy idea of being
stuffed. That way, they won‟t be separated ; they will continue to hold each other‟s
hand.
At first quite confused, Lukas is quickly carried away by the project. And gets
involved in the game. All three will become obsessed by the idea. A strange
relationship develops between them, like a weird complicity, very intimate, made up
of imagination, tenderness and humour…. black humour.
Lukas finally becomes part of his clients‟ everyday life. He even settles in their house.
Then, when the Day comes, he will have everything at hand. The project takes on
great importance, to the point that it is obsessive, and finally becomes the ultimate
goal of their lives. And soon, they are gripped by suspicion. They start to doubt, to
spy on each other, to watch, to suspect each other. Indeed, each will become
progressively very impatient.
2005 – Suspense fiction – 190 p.
EAN : 9782702135709
Foreign sale : Ripol Classic (Russian).
Born in Geneva in 1960, Yves Hughes has written scripts for the television and for radio.
He has also written numerous novels for young people. Straw Wedding is his fourth novel.
SEX VOX DOMINAM – Sex vox dominam
Richard Morgiève
Sex vox dominam is a violent psychological thriller like no other that explores man‟s darkest recesses.
Sometimes, you have to go deep down to find yourself again.
He has everything a man could wish for, including an electric wine cellar. But one
day, his wife leaves him for his best friend. Out of derision, he calls himself
Kadabideur and decides to follow only his organs and desires : sex, pornography,
videos, girls, girls, girls.
His old friend Frisquet has cut a classified ad in a newspaper : Sex vox dominam.
The meeting place, a barge. There, Kadabideur meets Miss Démoniac and the
Devil. Confined, tortured, enslaved, with nowhere else to go, Kadabideur fights to
have the right to live and love.
This is not an erotic novel but a novel on sex and the contagious evil, on
pornography and how it fascinates people. Sex vox dominam is a breathtaking
psychological thriller.
August 1995 – Thriller – 217 p.
EAN : 9782702124925
Richard Morgiève is a scenarist and the author of numerous novels including Un petit
homme de dos (Ramsay, 1988), Fausto (Robert Laffont, 1990) and more recently United
Colors of Crime (Carnets nords, 2012).
49
RIVER FALLS – River Falls Crime Thrillers series
Alexis Aubenque
In the relative quiet of River Falls, Sheriff Mike Logan has many mysteries to solve along with his onagain/off-again girlfriend and expert profiler, Jessica Hurley. A brilliant trilogy.
7 JOURS À RIVER FALLS – 7 Days in River Falls
Sarah Kent is a model student who leads a peaceful life among the elite of the
prestigious River Falls College, located in a small town of the same name in the heart of
the Rockies. Yet one spring morning, all of this will change. Sarah‟s world becomes one
of terror and some years later Sarah‟s two high school best friends are found brutally
mutilated.
Though they had lost touch since high school, Sarah received a strange letter two days
before the girls‟ bodies were found and seems to be hiding a big secret. Perhaps there‟s
some invisible bond that ties these young women together… Will she be the murderer‟s
next victim ?
June 2008 – Crime Novel
374 p. – EAN : 9782702139196
Foreign Sales : Editora Nemo – Autentica (Portuguese / Brazil), Pegasus Yayinlari (Turkish).
UN AUTOMNE À RIVER FALLS – One Fall in River Falls
WINNER OF THE 2009 COGNAC PRIZE POLAR
Early fall. Mike Logan and Jessica Hurley take on two back-to-back murders that
have once again shaken up River Falls. Robert Gordon, brilliant lawyer and
philanthropist, is discovered electrocuted in the Jacuzzi of his luxurious villa. The
murderer's attempts at leaving evidence pointing to suicide are hardly plausible.
That same day a homeless man, beaten to death and thrown into the river, shows up at
the morgue without causing much of a stir. As tension mounts in River Falls, a new
murder is committed, corroborating the hypothesis. Yet simple appearances sometimes
hide gruesome truths ; and the past, terrible secrets.
Foreign Sale : Editora Nemo – Autentica (Portuguese / Brazil).
June 2008 – Crime Novel
464 p. – EAN : 9782702140215
UN NOËL À RIVER FALLS – Christmas in River Falls
Things seem to be back to normal in River Falls. But as the small town gets ready for
Christmas, a brutal killing revives memories of a horrific past : an adolescent has been
found dead, another barely managing to escape.
Were they the target of a sexual pervert ? Could it be an act of revenge against one of the
two boys accused of assault and battery on a transvestite ? It turns out that a young
survivor belongs to a religious community living in the former manor house of a serial
killer. Is this a mere coincidence, or is it somehow related to the boys' abduction ? Sheriff
Mike Logan and Jessica Hurley will have to avoid the traps of our preconceived ideas
about the “monsters” in our midst. Free from bias, the truth is easier to find.
November 2010 – Crime Novel
512 p. – EAN : 9782702141441
50
CHARITÉ BIEN ORDONNÉE – Regulated Charity
Alexis Aubenque
The first volume of the “Dark Nights in Seattle” series. An immersion into the excessive and extravagant
world of the super-rich, in a carefully-crafted tale of suspense.
Back in Seattle, former River Falls, sheriff Mike Logan, has been named head of
homicides. With the first days of spring, he is confronted with the murder of a
young art school student.
He assigns the case to his best detectives, Lieutenants Rivera and Nelson, who
soon find themselves investigating one of the most influential families in town, the
Winedroves, and in particular the four Winedrove children who have chosen to
follow four very different paths...
With efficiency and rhythm, Alexis Aubenque plunges the reader into a captivating
thriller.
Former bookseller and genre literature buff, Alexis Aubenque is the successful author
of the River Falls trilogy : Sept jours à River Falls, Un automne à River Falls which won the
2009 Prix POLAR in Cognac, and Un Noël à River Falls, published in 2010.
October 2011 – Suspense fiction
300 p. – EAN : 9782702142554
LES MURS DE SANG – Walls of Blood
Jérôme Camut & Nathalie Hug
In an ingenious plot spanning three different eras, Jérôme Camut and Nathalie Hug give us a masterlycrafted thriller, both complex and sensitive. You always pay for your mistakes. It's just a matter of time.
Jack Van Bogaert has been separated from his daughter Lucie for twelve long
years. His tumultuous youth, including an extended stay in a Balinese prison,
behind him at last, Jack had found stability with Libby, the woman he loves, on a
small island paradise. To make his unexpected happiness complete, he has gone
to Switzerland to be reunited with Lucie, whose mother has died. A stupid car
accident on a mountain road is about to change everything, however. Lucie is
injured, and Jack sets out to look for help, just enough time for trouble to come
calling. The field is open to kidnappers, an abduction that is no coincidence :
someone is out to get Jack.
The road to Lucie is strewn with bodies and incomprehension : murder,
blackmail, political scandal... What awful crime did Jack commit to make someone
take it out on his teenager daughter ?
October 2011 – Suspense fiction
384 p. – EAN : 9782702141892
Jérôme Camut and Nathalie Hug met in 2004. They have written several novels
together, including Les Éveillés (2008), Trois fois plus loin (2009) and Les Yeux d’Harry
(2010) published by Calmann-Lévy.
French Sales : Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche), Book-club editions (GLM & France Loisirs).
51
DIANE SILVER – Diane Silver series
Andrea H. Japp
Born in 1957, trained as a toxicologist, since 1990, Andrea H. Japp has written over twenty novels, she is considered
one of the “queens” of crime fiction in France. She has also written many novellas, scenarios for television and cartoons.
Celebrated French detective novelist Andrea H. Japp has left historical fiction for a while to make a remarkable
return to the world of thrillers with a contemporary setting starring Diane Silver, one of the world‟s finest
profilers.
DANS LA TÊTE, LE VENIN – Venom
France, 2008 : a man has been strangled by a former lover who had dropped out of sight.
Two psychotic teens, Louise and her sidekick Cyril, are ensnared in a murderous brand
of Satanism. The final step in their initiation involves committing a murder but their own
bloodthirsty plans are annihilated when the two are brutally murdered.
USA, 2008 : Diane Silver is hunting down a serial killer. Yves, a French cop who Diane
trained in profiling, informs her of the murder of the two teens. As she reconstitutes the
murder of the two adolescents, Diane opens Pandora‟s box…
French Sales : Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche), Book-club edition (GLM “Main Selection”),
Large print edition (Libra Diffusio).
March 2010 – Crime Novel
266 p. - EAN : 9782702139677
UNE OMBRE PLUS PÂLE – A Lighter Shadow
Diane has made a pact with Rupert Teelaney, alias Nathan, one of world‟s rich and
famous, to hunt down serial killers and eliminate them in order to spare their future
victims. This is perfectly illegal, but Diane wants more than anything to find the “tout”
who drove her daughter into the hands of a murderer. While Nathan is hunting down
the tout, Diane is working on a gruesome case : in a quaint cottage, a pipe leak reveals a
mass grave in the basement housing at least 9 women‟s bodies. In Paris, Yves Guéguen
takes a liking to Sara Heurtel and her son Victor. Nathan is watching him and Yves is
getting in the way. How will these three stories come together ?
September 2009 – Crime Novel
308 p. - EAN : 9782702140338
French Sales : Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche), Book-club edition (GLM “Main Selection”).
LA MORT, SIMPLEMENT– Death simply
Any relief Diane might have felt after this vengeful murder is masked by her growing
feelings of doubt about Nathan. Who exactly is he ? A righter of wrongs or a charming,
intelligent and dreadful psychopath who is merely looking for excuses to do what he
loves most : killing ? When Diane learns that her best friend and French counterpart
Yves Guéguen was murdered in Paris, she wonders if Nathan might be involved.
French Sales : Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche), Book-club edition (GLM).
January 2010 – Crime Novel
330 p. - EAN : 9782702140680
52
LA DAME SANS TERRE – The Landless Lady
Andrea H. Japp
A historical series by Andrea H. Japp, author of about thirty novels, and considered one of the “queens” of
crime fiction in France.
Published between 2006 and 2008, around 384 p. each.
VOL. 1 – The Track of the Beast
1304. France is divided by the conflict between Philip the Fair, who wants to free himself
from the church‟s omnipotent authority, and Pope Benedict XI, who dies suddenly from
poisoning. In these troubled times, Agnès, a tempestuous young widow, will see her destiny
change radically. Why does Eudes de Larnay, Agnès‟s perversely stupid half-brother, accuse
her of being possessed by the devil and plotting with heretics to bring her before the
Inquisition ? Who sends the letters bearing the papal seal that speak of the “divine blood” to
the convent of Clairets ? What does the young Clément, Agnès‟s protégé, discover in the
books of the convent‟s library ? What can one make of the dead bodies found abandoned in
the forest, burnt but without any trace of fire, or clawed by a mysterious animal ?
VOL. 2 – The Rose-Whisperer
Agnès is dragged before the court of the Inquisition, where Nicolas Florin, the Grand
Inquisitor, wants to see her weep and beg, and demands that she be put to death. Meanwhile,
at the convent of Clairets, one nun after another is found poisoned. They know that the
culprit is among them but who could really commit such atrocities ? Everyone is a suspect.
Élodie, the mother abbess is sure only of one thing : the key to solving this mystery lies in
the manuscripts of the Abbey‟s secret library. Though Agnès doesn‟t know it yet, she is not
alone : Count Arthus of Authon is prepared to kill in order to save Agnès, who has stolen
his heart. Francesco de Leone, a Knight Hospitaller, is on a mysterious quest involving
Agnès and has sworn to protect her at all costs against her enemies. Finally, Clément‟s
ingenuity may just change his destiny and his Lady‟s one forever.
VOL. 3 – Divine Blood
In this third volume, the knots surrounding the multiple mysteries exposed in the first two
volumes are untied. The title, Divine Blood, is a clue. Whose blood courses through young
Clément‟s veins ? And what does this reveal about his identity ? Who was behind murders in
the convent of Clairets ? The investigation will go as far as Rome and Pope‟s closest advisors.
As for the love kindling between Agnès and Arthus, there is yet another surprise in store…
VOL. 4 – The Battle of the Shadows
Young Clémence (formerly Clément) has disappeared. Agnès desperately hopes to find
her again. She manages to escape the clutches of the inquisition but is being slowly
poisoned… Arthus, count of Authon, now Agnès‟s husband falls, in his turn, into the
hands of the Inquisition ; whereas Francesco de Léone, the white knight, tries once again
to save them and protect their secret. A thrilling ride from beginning to end, the fourth
volume of “La Dame sans terre” gives long-awaited answers to the mysteries of this
exciting and intriguing story.
French Sales : Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche), Book-club edition (GLM “Main Selection”).
Foreign Sales : Gallic Books (English), Goldmann (German), Gotica (Portuguese), Family Leisure Club (Russian).
53
POLARS HISTORIQUES – Historical Thrillers
Andrea H. Japp
MONESTARIUM – Monestarium
1288. Alexandria, Egypt. An Armenian merchant helps a dying man in the desert
who bequeaths him a mysterious bag containing bone and clay fragments.
1290. Acre, Galilee. The Armenian has been contacted by someone who wants to
buy the mysterious bag from him. Instead of money in exchange for the bag, only a
knife to the throat.
1307. Convent of Clairets, France. Angélique, a young cloistered nun, has been
strangled. What was the motive ? Undoubtedly because she too closely resembled
one of her sisters, Marie-Gillette d‟Andremont, who found anonymous refuge in
the convent after fleeing Spain where her lover was assassinated by two killers…
March 2007 – Historical Thriller
356 p. – EAN : 9782702137833
The investigation thus begins, conducted by Plaisance de Champlois, the young
and newly-appointed abbess of Clairets, aided by the honourable Aimery, count of
Mortagne. Rumour has it that these murders are all linked to the secret held in the
mysterious bag containing bone and clay fragments. A diptych of the Virgin in
conversation with repentant soldiers, given to Marie-Gillette by her lover before his
death is the key to the enigma. The answer, which, if revealed, would threaten the
Church‟s credibility, is presumably to be found in a reflection on the soldiers‟
armor…
French Sales : Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche), Book-club edition (GLM “Main Selection”),
Large print edition (Libra Diffusio).
Foreign Sales : Algaida Editores (Spanish), Euromedia (Czech).
LA CROIX DE PERDITION – The Cross of Perdition
Winter 1308. The snowbound Convent of Clairets. A string of macabre murders
involving Tarot cards. How do the brutal killings of Dominican nuns tie in to the
ruthless hunt for Arnauld Amalric's cross, of alleged magical powers, worn during
the Albigensian Crusade in Béziers (a military campaign initiated by the Catholic
church to eliminate the Cathars) a hundred years earlier ? And who exactly is
Claire, young daylight-shunning woman determined to protect four ill-treated, but
gentle, “circus freaks” ?
As the champions of good, young abbess Plaisance de Champlois and Knight
Arnaud de Villeneuve, look for answers, the reader is caught up in a spine-tingling
and expertly-crafted medieval mystery.
French Sales : Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche), Book-club edition (GLM “Main
Selection”) Large print edition (Libra Diffusio).
Foreign Sale : Algaida Editores (Spanish).
54
May 2008 – Historical Thriller
330 p. – EAN : 9782702139165
LA DAME DE KYOTO – The Lady of Kyoto
Éric Le Nabour
“A captivating look at Japan through the eyes of an impassioned young woman
searching for freedom” – Le Semeur hebdo
“Both the magnificent portrait of a woman at a historic crossroads and an
engrossing tale, the author‟s poignant „Lady of Kyoto‟ has it all.” – Le Dauphiné Libéré
A tragic and delicate tale explaining the Japanese traditions through a gripping
investigation about murders and quest for power.
Kyoto, 1904. Myako Matsuka has been the ward of her brother, Naoki, since the
assassination of their parents, a couple of rich silk industrialists. When Naoki leaves
for the front during the Russo-Japanese War, Myako is left to manage the family
business on her own. Horrified by working conditions in the factory, she doesn't
hesitate to violate her brother's instructions, revealing a proud and independent
temperament.
But her troubling love for an English diplomat, Allan Pearson, and the entrance into
her life of a young Frenchman with a passion for stamps, Martin Fallières,
complicate the situation.
Torn between passion, family ties and professional responsibilities, tormented by her
parents' mysterious death, Myako is going to have to choose : a painful decision that
will expose the equally tragic truth of her own past and that will cause her future to
take a very different direction than the one she had imagined.
Éric Le Nabour earned early acclaim with several biographies and historical works. He
is also an expert on the East and the Far East.
November 2012 – Historical Fiction
380 p. – EAN : 9782702143421
Foreign Sale : Newton Compton
(Italian).
LES LAVANDIÈRES DE BROCÉLIANDE – The Washerwomen of Brocéliande
Edouard Brasey
“A riveting tale of vividly sketched, unusual characters” – Le Courrier Indépendant
In a Brittany steeped in superstition and legend, a washerwoman‟s fate turns
into a thriller, mixing contemporary plot and historical intrigue : a fascinating
page-turner.
Concoret, a small Breton village on the edge of Brocéliande Forest, 1943. On the
morning of the Toussaint, a young woman's body is found in the village washhouse.
The victim's mother, Dahud, a slightly crazed laundress, is convinced it is a curse
touching the washerwomen of Brocéliande but suspicion soon falls on two very real
suspects : Philippe de Montfort, a young nobleman thought to have been having an
affair with the deceased, and Loïc, a poor hunchback collier, despised by all.
Gwenn, an orphan who had been brought up by an old sage, is overwhelmed with
conflicting emotions. What exactly does she feel for each of the suspects :
friendship, admiration, pity, or even love ?
May 2012 – Historical fiction – 464 p.
EAN : 9782702143223
French sales : Paperback edition (Le
Livre de Poche), Book-club edition
(GLM), Large print edition (VDB).
In the meantime, the villagers face starvation under the occupying German army's
tight restrictions, and young Resistance fighters have taken refuge in the Val-sansRetour, like modern day Knights of the Round Table. But the curse is upon the
washerwomen of Brocéliande.
Essayist, novelist and historian Edouard Brasey is a renowned specialist of the strange
and the occult, especially the fantasy genre and the world of Celtic legend to which he
has devoted some fifty books.
55
LA GUÉRISSEUSE DE PEYREFORTE – The Healer
Louis-Olivier Vitté
An incredible novel about a woman who masquerades as a doctor and heals people from her region. A strong
heroine, fighting for recognition in the 1950‟s French countryside.
In the aftermath of the second world war, Julie, a young woman from Corrèze finds work as a
nanny at the home of a doctor vacationing in the region. She accompanies the family back to Paris
and, dazzled by the knowledge of Victor, her employer, she secretly devours the books in his
medical library.
Thus does she amass a vast amount of theoretical knowledge that soon has her convinced of her
ability both to treat and to heal patients. Upon returning to her native region, she puts her
knowledge into practice and becomes a healer. Her reputation grows and her business prospers
until the medical community finds out about this somewhat unorthodox, if not illegal, rival.
April 2012 – 296 p.
Historical fiction
EAN: 9782702143124
Louis-Olivier Vitté currently works for a radio station. He is also a novelist, winner of the Prix
Roman d'Auvergne in 2001. The Healer is his eighth novel.
French Sales : Book-club edition (GLM), Large print edition (Libra Diffusio).
L’ENFANT SANS ÉTOILE – The Starless Child
Raphaël Delpard
The harrowing journey of a “hidden child” in Nazi-occupied France and a moving and richly-nuanced portrait of a
brave grandma, a “righteous Among the Nations”.
1943. In the French department of Sarthe, Louise Leblanc has taken in a 6-year-old orphan
entrusted to her by an underground organization for saving Jewish children. In a state of
amnesiac shock, he doesn't even remember his name. Louise calls him Jean and registers him at
school using her own last name.
Accepted by the locals as one of their own, Jean, as he adapts to his new surroundings, begins to
recover fragments of the past. But one day an anonymous letter has been sent to the police
accusing her of hiding a Jewish child. A race, pitting villagers sympathetic to her cause against
accomplices in barbarity, is underway.
Filmmaker, journalist and writer Raphaël Delpard is the author of numerous historical works.
September 2010 – 286 p.
Historical fiction
EAN : 9782702141342
French Sales : Book-club editions (GLM & France Loisirs),
Large print edition (Libra Diffusion), Condensed edition (Sélection du Reader’s Digest).
LA VALSE DES NUAGES – The Waltz of the Clouds
Patrick Breuzé
Summer 1913. The Mont-Blanc massif. A retired English diplomat is at the center of a small
British coterie unified by a passion for mountain climbing.
Wealthy young adventurer and ladies' man, Jefferson Rockwell, is solitary by nature and, unlike
his compatriots, also a purist, an artist who climbs solo. He even sets several spectacular records,
to the dismay of local mountain guides irritated by his arrogance.
Tensions go up a notch when one of the valley's bigwig mountain climbers discovers that his
girlfriend and Rockwell had an affair. A confrontation between the two men seems inevitable
when the retired diplomat comes up with a challenge : to scale a seemingly impassable rock face,
side by side and barehanded.
November 2012 – 300 p.
Historical fiction
EAN : 9782702144176
Journalist, teacher and writer, Patrick Breuzé lives in Haute-Savoie. His love of the mountains has
inspired a number of his successful novels, including Le Silence des glaces and La Grande Avalanche.
French Sales : Large print edition (Libra Diffusion), Condensed edition (Sélection du Reader’s Digest).
56
LES RACINES DU TEMPS – The Roots of Time
Annie Degroote
A spellbinding historical evocation, carefully documented that, through a subtle symmetry, highlights a
double portrait of women dragged into a breathtaking quest for identity.
The county of Flanders, the 14th century. While the city of Kassel is busy raising
money to free Countess Yolande, prisoner to the King of France, a servant
banished by the parish priests gives up her illegitimate child, Insbette, to a family of
peasants in order to save her. The child grows up to be a scholarly with a passion for
books and illuminated manuscripts. Overcoming the disgrace of her origins, she sets
off to find her mother.
French Flanders, today. Renowned journalist Nina Van Parys has returned to her
birthplace to write a paper on Yolande, a veritable medieval “stateswoman”. She
discovers a parchment revealing the horoscope, astonishingly similar to her own, of
an illegitimate young woman from the Middle Ages. The coincidence soon sees Nina
investigating her “twin” from long ago, never suspecting the quest would lead to the
secret of her own birth.
Annie Degroote, well known figure in the north of France, is a columnist for La Voix
du Nord and the winner of Lille‟s Grand Prix des Lettres de la Société des Arts et
des Lettres.
October 2011 – Historical fiction
300 p. – EAN : 9782702142301
French Sales : Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche), Book-club editions (GLM & France Loisirs),
Audio-book edition (VDB), Large print edition (VDB).
LE COCHER DU PONT-NEUF – The Cabman of the Pont-Neuf Bridge
Jean-Baptiste Bester
The adventures of a young man aspiring for upward mobility during the Régence. An entertaining novel in
a lively Paris.
Paris, 1720. The young and penniless Félicien Bouvier is trying to survive,
accepting whatever employment comes his way. Thus does he enter the house, as
servant and coachman, of civil law notary Maître Benoît Farel. To the chagrin of
his mistress, Toinette, our dashing protagonist is not insensitive to the charms of
the lovely wet-nurse Pauline.
All would nonetheless be for the best in the best of all possible worlds, if the
exceedingly bold Félicien would stop accumulating blunders. Hiding out in the dark
and restless slums of Paris before traveling with Voltaire's theater company to a
plague stricken Marseilles, crossing paths with the ill-fated highwayman Cartouche
along the way, life is always an adventure for Félicien.
Jean-Baptiste Bester is the author of several adventure novels including Bois d'Ebène, À
l’heure où dorment les fauves and L’Homme de la Clarée, published in 2010.
January 2011 – Historical fiction
462 p. – EAN : 9782702141687
French Sales : Book-club editions (GLM & France Loisirs), Large print edition (Libra Diffusio).
57
FERNAND DE MAGELLAN – Magellan, Inventing the World
Patrick Girard
“THE SEA KNIGHTS” SERIES
In this novel Patrick Girard relates the exceptional destiny of Fernand
de Magellan‟s history, often overlooked.
Magellan's great journey is a prototype of sorts, an adventure for
adventure's sake, a feat with no tomorrow. The gallant maritime epic
of a veritable Don Quixote of the Seas.
Educated in the Portuguese court, the penniless fidalgo was raised on feats
of chivalry, serving as a young man in India and Barbary until a wound
makes him unfit for soldiering. Decommissioned and living on a modest
pension granted by Portugal's Manuel I, with whom he is out of favor,
Magellan devotes himself to a secret dream : to sail around the southern tip
of the newly discovered Americas, the passage to the Moluccas spices.
Achieving this feat would not only bring new wealth and lands to his native
country, it would also reunite him with his former comrade in arms, now the
vizier of the Sultan of Ternate, with whom he had been secretly
corresponding.
But like Columbus before him, Magellan's request for a small fleet is refused
by the Portuguese court. He is forced to turn to Spain, to win the trust of
the recently crowned Don Carlos, future Charles V, also a newcomer to
Spain.
Foreign Sale : El Ateneo (Spanish – Latin America only)
May 2012 – Historical Fiction – 350 p.
EAN : 9782846122818
THE AUTHOR : Patrick Girard
Historian, journalist and novelist Patrick Girard is the author of numerous works,
including the epic historical trilogies Le Roman de Carthage (Éditions N°1) and Al
Andaluz (Calmann-Lévy).
Also published in “The Sea Knights” series :
CHRISTOPHE COLOMB – Christopher Columbus
Volume one of Patrick Girard's series dedicated to great navigators and explorers retraces
Columbus„ life up to that fateful night in the Caribbean on October 13, 1492. A novel of
epic adventures, the clash of good and evil sometimes hiding a mere sordid settling of
scores, and the story of a man's unlikely fate that would forever alter the course of history.
350 p. – EAN : 9782846122740
Foreign Sales : Presença (Portuguese), El Ateneo (Spanish – Latin America only).
58
MICHEL PEYRAMAURE
Michel Peyramaure has written a number of acclaimed historical novels, including Les Villes du silence (2010), Tempête
sur le Mexique (2011), Mourir pour Saragosse (2012), Les Folies de la duchesse d’Abrantès (2013) and L’Orpheline de la forêt Barade
(2014) all published by Calmann-Lévy. He was awarded the Prix de la Société des gens de lettres and the Prix Alexandre Dumas
for his entire body of work.
MOURIR POUR SARAGOSSE – To Die for Zaragoza
A captivating adventure crossing the French Revolution, the Napoleon‟s Empire across France and Spain.
The Périgord, 1789. The rest of France may be seized by revolutionary frenzy,
but gentleman farmer, Baron Antoine-Joseph de Barsac from Périgord, cares
only for his family estate. His lukewarm Republican convictions render him
suspicious, however, and he is left with no choice : he must enroll in the army
and leave Héloïse, his inconsolable betrothed, behind.
Thus the young southerner begins a brilliant military career, shaped by the
winds of war : the Revolution, the Empire and Napoleon's disastrous campaign
in Spain. The siege of Zaragoza will be one of the most brutal and sanguinary
of the Napoleonic battles, fire and bombs completely destroying the city, while
warfare, famine and epidemics will wipe out its entire population.
Among the ruins of the martyred city – worlds away from the gallant dash of
the cavalry – Barsac uncovers the hideous face of war, realizing only too late
that by giving up his native Périgord he has given up his chance for
happiness…
288 p. – EAN : 9782702142851
LES VILLES DU SILENCE – Silenced Cities
A fascinating immersion in the brilliant and enigmatic Etruscan civilization guided by the last of them in a
dark and violent era.
220 b.c.e. Aulus Laristal tells the story of how he came to settle in Spina, one of
the last cities of the Etruscan civilization, located on a lagoon in the Adriatic sea,
just south of what would become Venice. Aulus, descended from an influential
family, left his home town Tarquinia at a very young age when it was conquered by
the Romans, carrying with him a basket full of important documents attesting to
the history of his people.
Now an adult, he decides it is time to immortalize the history of his people in
writing. But it is not an easy task : the number of incursions of Gallic looters from
the north is increasing and Spina is under threat. Aulus, a distinguished member of
the Roman Legion is assigned to command the rapidly formed defense troops.
They manage to push back the invaders only for the city to be devastated shortly
thereafter by a destructive flood followed by a cholera epidemic and a slave revolt.
Order is only reinstituted with the help of the Romans who take advantage of the
weak state of the city to take control.
May 2010 – Historical fiction
320 p. – EAN : 9782702141083
Some years later, Aulus, now steward to the lucumon (the Etruscan city governor),
witnesses the slow decline of his own brilliant civilization. Disheartened by
watching his governor comply subserviently with the occupying forces, Aulus falls
ill and is left by his lover, young Sania, the daughter of one of Spina‟s prominent
families. Disillusioned and heart-broken, he decides to return to his childhood
home, Tarquinia, a city silenced by the Romans.
French Sales : Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche), Book club edition (GLM).
59
LE FRACAS DES HOMMES – When men clash
Bernard Marc & Maryse Rivière
English
sample
translation
available
A coming-of-age novel that immerses the reader in the picturesque Paris of Apollinaire and also
reveals the unfortunate fate of a generation of young men sacrificed to war.
Paris, 1909. Louis Tréhen, a young Breton comes to the capital to study medicine. He is about
to discover the two faces of Paris : the splendor of the City of Lights and the shadows of
Belleville. In this prewar period of extremes, Louis diligently proceeds, making friendships and a
name for himself as a doctor.
Berck-sur-Mer, 1919. Now Louis is laid up at a naval hospital. Having worked on the front as a
doctor, he has experienced firsthand the horrors of war. Injured during a bombing, he is now
waiting for the pain to subside. To take his mind off his condition, he begins to write, reading
to his companions in misfortune the story of his gilded youth, which had come to an end.
February 2011 – 350 p.
Historical fiction
EAN : 9782702141250
A science historian and hospital physician, Bernard Marc is also a talented writer and is the
coauthor of several historical works on the Great War.
Avid world traveler and eclectic author, Maryse Rivière has published works in numerous genres,
including historical monographs, detective novels and short stories.
French Sale : Large print edition (VDB).
LA SULTANE ANDALOUSE – The Sultana of Andalusia
Muriel Romana
The epic story of love and death of a dancer and a calligrapher. She does not know how
to read but turns her body into words...
The 15th century in the golden years of the Arab-Andalusian civilization. Grenada is at its height.
One day the Sultan's calligrapher surprises the beautiful Samara dancing at daybreak.
Spellbound, he decides to take her back to his palace near the Alhambra and to keep her there.
Samara discovers a world dominated by the calligrapher's wives.
Indeed, Samara's reed dry body, swaying in dance, made supple by music, as light as wafting veil,
is the calligrapher‟s inspiration and over time more than a muse. She occupies his mind entirely,
obsessively and slowly he weaves a web of ink and blood. When Samara understands he is ready
to kill, he has already started to hunt her. But Samara is no ordinary prey.
October 2011 – 300 p.
Historical suspense fiction
EAN : 9782846122788
Writer, screenwriter and journalist Muriel Romana is the author of a successful saga recounting the
life of “Marco Polo” which has been translated into 8 languages.
French Sale : Large print edition (Libra Diffusio).
Foreign Sale : Yediveren Publishing (Turkish).
LE TESTAMENT SECRET DE MOÏSE – Moses‟ Secret Will
Carole Dagher
An explosive crime fiction with mystical intrigues, scientific traps, passionate struggles
and moving love stories.
The present day. Some researchers have uncovered a sensational document : the last will and
testament, carefully conserved by an order of medieval monks, attributed to Moses himself !
Professor John de Coussey, ancient manuscripts specialist at Columbia, little imagines that his
encounter with Mariam, a young Egyptian scholar, will put him on the very unlikely trail of the
long-kept secret will of Moses – a hypothesis, of course, that raises a host of questions.
February 2011 – 290 p
Historical crime fiction
EAN : 9782846122733
A thousand years separates John's story from that of his far-off ancestor Arnaud the Crusader.
Yet from France to Jerusalem by way of the Sinai Desert, they will share a similar fate, thanks to
the love of a woman. Tinged with the mysterious aura of the Orient, the sagas of Arnaud the
Crusader and his distant descendant John de Coussey lifts the veil surrounding the secret of
Moses, the most fascinating of all the biblical prophets.
Journalist and novelist Carole Dagher has published several historical novels with Éditions Plon.
60
MARCO POLO – “Marco Polo” series
Muriel Romana
The epic series, in three novels, of the famous 13th century explorer‟s journey from Venice to Beijing.
LA CARAVANE DE VENISE – The Venetian Caravan
At seventeen, Marco Polo left Venice with his father and his uncle to join the court of
Great Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan and heir to his empire, which stretched
from Russia to the Pacific Ocean :
Twenty thousand kilometres (12,500 miles) of scorching and frozen deserts and of
precipitous mountain passes ! This is the incredible journey to Beijing that is told here in
vivid detail.
AU-DELÀ DE LA GRANDE MURAILLE
February 2001 – 415 p.
EAN : 9782846120784
Beyond the Great Wall of China
Marco Polo became a close acquaintance of Great Kublai Khan who made him his
confidant. He thus moved rapidly into higher circles and enlisted eagerly in the
Mongolian adventure. Sent on confidential missions all over the Empire, he was
eventually appointed governor of a Chinese district.
The Venetian managed to expose a spy network and thus allowed Kublai to expand his
Empire by invading Japan. But the kamikaze or “Divine Wind”, a terrible typhoon,
completely destroyed the Empire's fleet. For the first time in his life, Kublai gave up his
dreams of conquest. The Emperor was getting old, even if Marco, then in the prime of
life, had given him a second wind.
May 2002 – 361 p.
EAN : 9782846120241
LE TIGRE DES MERS – Tiger of the Seas
After discovering that his own son was himself part of a plot against the emperor,
Marco Polo understood that he would always be considered an undesirable foreigner in
this country. Heavy-hearted, he left China with all his family.
On his return to Venice, no one believed his story. It was in prison that he was finally
able to honour the promise made to the Great Khan. The Book of Marvels was to
remain the ultimate testimony of his fabulous adventures.
May 2003 – 368 p.
EAN : 9782846120999
Fascinated by history, Muriel Romana has spent many years making movies with producers from the United
Kingdom and the United-States. Today, she divides her time writing scenarios and novels.
Foreign Sales : Bertrand (Portuguese/Brazil), Rye Field (Complex Chinese),
Global Media Group (Korean), Beta (Czech), Slovart (Slovak), MKZ (Solvenian).
61
GILBERT SINOUÉ
Gilbert Sinoué was born in Cairo in 1947. His books, among which Le Livre de saphir (Gallimard, Prix des Libraires 1996),
L’Enfant de Bruges (Gallimard, 1999), A mon fils, à l’aube du troisième millénaire (Gallimard, 2000), Des jours et des nuits
(Gallimard, 2001), L’Ambassadrice (Calmann-Lévy, 2002), Les Silences de Dieu (Albin Michel, 2003), and Un bateau pour l’enfer
(Calmann-Lévy, 2005) have been translated throughout the world with great success.
UN BATEAU POUR L‟ENFER – The Saint Louis‟ Epic
November 8th, 1938. Following the murder in Paris of the Embassy attaché von
Rath, Goebbels – in retaliation – launched the tragically famous Kristallnacht,
“Night of the Broken Glass” : the burning of synagogues and ransacking of Jewish
homes. From then on, in addition to an out-going visa, the Jews who wanted to
leave Germany had to buy an immigration visa.
1939. For reasons of exterior propaganda, Adolph Hitler decided to authorise the
departure from Germany of all Jews who desired to do so. In May 13th, 1939, the
S.S. Saint-Louis, a liner sailing under the Nazi flag, casted off from Hamburg.
Close to a thousand passengers were aboard, all German Jews and all in possession
of very expensively acquired valid tourist visas. Destination : Havana, Cuba, where
the exiled would wait for the right to enter the United-States.
January 2005 – Historical fiction
304 p. – EAN : 9782702134061
On May 23th , the day prior to the boat‟s entrance into Cuban territorial waters,
Gustave Schroeder, captain of the Saint-Louis, received a cable from the Cuban
government. The latter, manipulated by the Nazi agents established there, had
suddenly decided to cancel all the authorisations. Schroeder was informed that the
ship would not be authorised to come alongside. And an order was given to make an
about turn and to bring back its “cargo” to Hamburg. Schroeder decided to disobey
and established radio contact with the governments of the so-called free world.
Roosevelt, the first approached, refused. Thus began the horrifying epic of the SaintLouis.
French Sales : Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche), Book-club edition (GLM), Large print edition (Libra Diffusio)
Foreign Sales : Actel Trading (Greek /Cyprus), Neri Pozza (Italian), Pro Editura (Romanian),
Styria de Ediciones (Spanish), Park Publishing (Hungarian), Kok Ten Have (Dutch).
LA DAME À LA LAMPE – The Lady of the Lamp
Gilbert Sinoué paints here a portrait of Florence Nightingale‟s life. A pioneer of modern nursing, known as
“The Lady of the Lamp”, for the oil lamp she always carried as she ran through darkened hospital
hallways.
This formidable woman‟s life is recounted through a series of conversations between
the young biographer, Jonathan Brink – inspired to document Miss Nightingale‟s
life after having interviewed her twenty-some years earlier – and Henry Bonham
Carter, Nightingale‟s cousin and right-hand man through much of her life.
From her bourgeois beginnings and early role as a caretaker to her clear compassion
for those less fortunate than she ; from her legendary work in the Crimean War to
the foundation of the first nursing school in Great Britain ; from her organization of
field medicine during the US Civil War to the commendable work she accomplished
in the latter part of her life fighting infectious diseases…
Gilbert Sinoué artfully delves into the past to bring Florence Nightingale, as well
as the people and events that marked her, back to life.
French Sales : Paperback edition (Folio), Book-club editions (GLM & France Loisirs),
Large print edition (Feryane).
Foreign Sales : Psichogios (Greek), Neri Pozza (Italian).
62
286 p. – EAN : 9782702139080
LA PETITE BIBLIOTHÈQUE DES IDÉES
A Little Library of Modern Thought
J. Derrida, J. Baudrillard, J. Kristeva, A. Negri, etc.
DE L’HOSPITALITÉ by Jacques Derrida & Anne Dufourmantelle (1997)
Anne Dufourmantelle attends a seminar held by Jacques Derrida. He speaks of hospitality but also of hostility, the
other and the stranger, or what is approaching our borders.
Foreign Sales : Boom (Dutch), Stanford UP (English), Sangyo Toshu (Japanese), Ekkremes (Greek), Ediciones de la Flor (Spanish),
Passagen Verlag (German), Escuta (Portuguese /Brazil), Resling Publishing (Hebrew), Egyptian National Center for Translation (Arabic),
Dongmoonsung Publishing (Korean).
LES OBJETS SINGULIERS by Jean Baudrillard & Jean Nouvel (2000)
This title is an initial dialogue between a philosopher and an architect, both known for the audacity and strength of
their works. They explore the “singular objects” of our time and make a lively critique of current obsessions and
paradoxes.
French Sale : Paperback edition (ARLEA)
Foreign Sales : Minnesota UP (English), Dongmunsun (Korean), Fondo de Cultura Economica (Spanish),
Passagen Verlag (German), Electa (Italian), Dar Charkeyyat (Arabic), Kajima Institute (Japanese), Futura (Greek),
Paideia (Romanian), AGM (Croatian), Yem Publications (Turkish), Boekencentrum Publishers / Klement (Dutch).
L’AVENIR D’UNE RÉVOLTE by Julia Kristeva (1998)
This title brings together three of Kristeva‟s major texts on exile and revolt, more in terms of an interior revolution
than political action. The texts are witness to her powerful argumentation, both on a psychoanalytical level and as a
literary critic. She also touches on her own arrival in France and what it means to be a stranger in a strange land.
French Sale : Paperback edition (Champs-Flammarion)
Foreign Sales : Boom (Dutch), Columbia UP (English).
DU RETOUR by Antonio Negri (2002)
In his own inimitable voice, Antonio Negri recounts his exceptional destiny. From one letter to another (F for Future,
B for Red Brigade, C for Crime, etc.), he relates the most important events of his life, his political commitments, his
exile in France, his return to Italy and his imprisonment.
Foreign Sales : Metaichmio (Greek), Rizzoli (Italian), Campus (German), Ehak (Korean), Sakuhin Sha (Japanese), Routledge
(English), Van Gennep (Dutch), Record (Portuguese/Brazil), Korpus (Slovenian), Sic (Polish).
COMME DES FRÈRES by Frédéric Boyer (1998)
This is a magnificently-written biblical, literary and philosophical essay on fraternity and war.
Foreign Sale : Dongmunsun (Korean).
63
B. Cannone, C. de Portzamparc, P. Sollers, G. Pommier, etc.
VOIR, ÉCRIRE by Philippe Sollers & Christian de Portzamparc (2003)
A second dialogue between an architect and a writer. They evoke favourite writers, painters, other architects and raise
the question : can we think without language ?
French Sale : Paperback edition (Folio).
Foreign Sales : Minnesota UP (English), Yapi Kredi Kültür (Turkish).
LE SENTIMENT D’IMPOSTURE by Belinda Cannone (2005)
This title invites us to reflect upon the origins and manifestations of a very common feeling that we carefully hide –
feeling out of place, like we do not deserve the place we are and fear being found out. The author draws on literature,
film, psychoanalysis, politics and personal accounts to better understand this phenomenon.
Foreign Sales : Bibliotheca nueva (Spanish), Editura Art (Romanian), East China Normal UP (Simplified Chinese),
Edizioni di Passaggio (Italian).
L’ ÉCRITURE DU DÉSIR by Belinda Cannone (2000)
WINNER OF THE BEST ESSAY PRIZE FROM THE ACADÉMIE FRANÇAISE 2000
What makes us a writer ? What is the driving force behind the desire to write, transcribe, tell the world‟s story ?
Belinda Cannone studies this question through an analysis of her favourite writers.
Foreign Sale : East China Normal UP (Simplified Chinese).
À QUELLE HEURE PASSE LE TRAIN… by Jean Oury & Marie Depussé (2003)
This is an extraordinary dialogue about madness and ordinary life in a mental hospital, housed in an old castle, between
Jean Oury, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst and writer Marie Depussé.
LES CORPS ANGÉLIQUES DE LA POST-MODERNITÉ by Gérard Pommier (2000)
Psychoanalyst Gérard Pommier explores the current need to smooth over the rough edges, to “angelify” the body and
desire (cloning, virtual reality) which paradoxically leads to a resurgence of extreme violence. A very pertinent analysis
of our constantly changing society.
64
J. Darras, M-A. Ouaknin, C. Bident, etc.
NOUS SOMMES TOUS DES ROMANTIQUES ALLEMANDS by Jacques Darras (2002)
Poet and essayist Jacques Darras explores the thinking of great German romantics such as Hegel, Schelling,
Holderlin, Lessing, etc. and the influence they have on us today, particularly in terms of building Europe.
LETTRES SUR LA NATURE HUMAINE À L’USAGE DES SURVIVANTS
by Dany-Robert Dufour (1999)
Dany-Robert Dufour, writer, essayist and linguistics professor at the University of Paris brings us a anthropological
essay on the human being as an “anaxotl” – that is a being who, unlike most animals, is incapable of taking care of
himself at birth.
RECONNAISSANCES by Christophe Bident (2003)
Writer and literature professor, Christophe Bident explores the theme of recognition, particularly in the works of
Robert Antelme, Maurice Blanchot and Gilles Deleuze.
Foreign Sale : Arena (Spanish).
ANTHROPOLOGIE DE l’INHUMANITÉ by Maria Victoria Uribe (2003)
This book relates the history of Colombia from the period of “La Violencia” from the 1950‟s to nowadays,
through the study of the massacres. Basing herself upon political, social and contextual considerations, the author, a
Colombian anthropologist born in Bogotá, establishes a typology of the massacres and of its perpetrators. The author
questions the symbolization and ritualization of acts of violence, the semantic grounds of an inhuman anthropology,
but also the devastating effects of the massacres regarding the body classification.
C’EST POUR CELA QU’ON AIME LES LIBELLULES by Marc-Alain Ouaknin (1998)
Rabbi Marc-Alain Ouaknin, who holds a degree in philosophy, tells the story of a meeting between a wise master and
his disciple in the Luxembourg Gardens and the philosophical quest that is born from this meeting. He mixes the
teachings of the Bible, cabala, major European literary texts and philosophical references with his own personal
humour and prose.
French Sale : Paperback edition (Points Seuil).
65
RAYMOND ARON
Born in Paris in 1905, Raymond Aron, professor of Philosophy, was in turn, professor at the Institut des Sciences
Politiques and at the École Nationale d‟Administration in 1945, sociology professor at the Sorbonne in 1955, director of
research at the École pratique des Hautes Etudes and professor at the prestigious Collège de France (1970). In parallel,
he also pursued a career in journalism, contributing to Combat, Le Figaro where he became director of their politics
department in 1976 before being appointed general administrator of L’Express in 1979. His many works have marked the
20th century.
L‟OPIUM DES INTELLECTUELS (1955)
First published in 1955, L’Opium des intellectuels is an irrevocable condemnation of the
credulity tinged with dishonesty and of the dogmatism on which the French
intelligentsia stands.
Raymond Aron examines with rigorous and strict probity the evolution of “the Left”,
“the Revolution” and “the Proletariat”, ideas that belong to the myth he explodes.
How is it possible to accept the attitude of intellectuals who are merciless toward the
failings of democracy but ready to tolerate the worst of crimes as long as they are
committed in the name of the proper doctrines ? How is it possible not to grasp the
absurdity of the political and ideological mixtures that alienate intellectuals who are
religion seekers, who worship History as a god ?
April 2004 – Essay
341 p. – EAN : 9782702134740
Even if he repudiates his youthful ideas, Raymond Aron does not take the law into his
own hands. He offers a dispassionate thought-process, a fight rid of all hatred, urging
“all those who refuse to see in the Forum struggles the secret of the human
destination” to follow him.
French Sale : Paperback edition (Pluriel).
Foreign Sales : Kiepenheuer & Witsch (German), Doubleday (English World rights),
Lindau Edizioni (Italian), Mlata Fronta (Czech), Yilin Press (Simplified Chinese),
Akademiai Kiado (Hungarian), RBA Libros (Spanish), Dituria (Albanian),
Curtea Veche (Romanian), AST (Russian).
PAIX ET GUERRE ENTRE LES NATIONS (1962)
Dissuasion, subversion, persuasion. These are the three central means by which state
relations are conducted. Having reached the end of his investigation, Raymond Aron
tries to define the moral doctrine of diplomatic action and the strategy with the best
chance of saving peace without sacrificing liberty. Finally, in an exercise of utopian
thought, he is looking for the conditions of peace by law.
In 1962, when the book is published, these conditions are not completed and peace is
ensured by the absence or limitation of wars. Raymond Aron‟s analysis takes place at
the height of the Cold War and explains the power struggle imposed by the nuclear
weapons that only a few military powers hold. It is also a reflection on the history of
mankind.
Foreign Sales : Golden Marketing (Croatian), W. Martins Fontes (Brazil),
University Ljubljana (Slovenian), Social Sciences Academic Press (Simplified Chinese), AST (Russian).
January 2004 – Essay
341 p. – EAN : 9782702134696
Calmann Lévy also holds rights to Essai sur les libertés (1965).
66
LÉON POLIAKOV
Léon Poliakov was born in St Petersburg on November 25, 1910. Raised in Russia, Italy and Germany, he studied law
and literature in Paris before turning to journalism and historical research. In 1944, he participated in the creation of the
Centre of Modern Jewish Archives. At the end of World War II, he assisted Edgar Faure at the Nuremberg trials. He
died in Paris in 1997.
Léon Poliakov published numerous works with Calmann-Lévy, including Le Bréviaire de la haine (1951), Le Procès de
Jérusalem (1963), Les Banquiers juifs et le Saint-Siège (1967) and Le Mythe aryen (1971).
HISTOIRE DE L‟ANTISÉMITISME – 4 VOL. (1955)
Covering the history of prejudice against Jews from the time of
Christ through the rise of Nazi Germany, this title presents in
elegant and thoughtful language a balanced, careful assessment of
this egregious human failing that is nearly ubiquitous in the history
of Europe.
VOL. 1 : Du Christ au juifs de cour
VOL. 2 : De Mahomet aux Marranes
VOL. 3 : De Voltaire à Wagner
VOL. 4 : L‟Europe suicidaire
French Sale : Volumes 1 and 2 : Paperback edition (Points Seuil).
Foreign Sales : Idiomas Vivientes (Spanish), Nuova Italia (Italian),
Perspectiva (Portuguese), Jüdischer Verlag (German), Pennsylvania UP (English),
Hasefer (Romanian), Universitas (Polish), Chikuma Shobo (Japanese).
LA CAUSALITÉ DIABOLIQUE (1980/1985/2006)
“Diabolical Causality”
Part 1 : Essay on the origin of persecution :
Here Poliakov examines the principal groups that have, like the Jews, been
scapegoats in European history – who have been held responsible for epidemics,
wars and other disasters.
Part 2 : From Mongol domination to Lenin‟s victory :
Poliakov describes the October revolution. He retraces the origins of Russian
history, marked by the division – civil and religious – between the people and the
authorities and analyses the manner in which, over the centuries, this divide gave
birth to the idea that “conspiracy” could explain all conflicts.
Foreign Sales : Munchik Editores (Spanish), Perspectiva (Portuguese).
67
LA CRITIQUE ET LA CONVICTION – Criticism and Conviction
Paul Ricœur
A lesson in philosophy, Criticism and Conviction is a witness to Ricœur‟ stunning ability to bring
knowledge and culture together.
For the first time, one of the major philosophical minds of the 20th century, known for
his discretion, chooses to reveal his personal and intellectual evolution to two fellow
philosophers, Marc de Launay and François Azouvi.
Criticism and Conviction is not only an introduction to the life and work of Paul Ricœur,
covering all of the philosophical schools of interest, from metaphysics to
psychoanalysis, from hermeneutics to ethics, from the history of philosophy to religion.
It is also a long and inspiring thought process which explores a few questions that have
rarely or never been touched upon in his other books : aesthetics, for example, or
current events. This work is also a thought-provoking meditation on existence and
death.
November 1995 – Essay/Interview
290 p. – EAN : 9782702124987
Paul Ricœur is one of the major philosophers of the 20th century. His works are diverse,
abundant and continue to meet success both in France and throughout the world. His most
renowned works are De l'interprétation (Seuil, 1965 and 1995), Le Conflit des interprétations
(Seuil, 1969), La Métaphore vive (Seuil, 1975), Temps et Récit (Seuil, 1983-1985), Soi-même comme
un autre (Seuil, 1990).
François Azouvi and Marc de Launay, researchers at the prestigious French CNRS, were
the editors-in-chief of the Revue de métaphysique et de morale, under Ricœur‟s direction.
Foreign Sales : Editoriale Jaca Book (Italian), Columbia UP (English/US), Polity Press (English/UK), Edicoes 70 (Portuguese), KRC (Polish),
Karl Alber Verlag (German), Yapi Kredi Yay (Turkish), Association Apokalipsa (Slovenian), Greenbee Publishing (Korean).
DICTIONNAIRE INTERNATIONAL DE LA PSYCHANALYSE
International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis
Alain de Mijolla
Seven years of work, 500 international contributions from all horizons, 2000 pages, 1600 entries.
The first dictionary of its kind, written by internationally known analysts from France
and abroad. It defines and describes the development of the different theoretical and
clinical psychoanalytical notions, as well as the principal actors, works, events and
institutions in the history of psychoanalysis and of the psychoanalytical movement in
the world since their origins.
The entries are presented alphabetically. The terms are translated into five languages
and are followed by a short bibliography which is completed at the end of the volume.
Besides a great number of Freudian and post-Freudian notions, this dictionary is the
only one to provide entries such as : biographies of the world‟s principal
psychoanalysts, their most remarkable works, events which have marked the history of
the psychoanalytical movement and its various evolutions, and the principal institutions
which have illustrated its development, not to mention the contribution of certain
movements derived from psychoanalysis such as Analytical Psychology (Jung) or
Individual Psychology (Adler).
Neuropsychiatrist and psychoanalyst Alain de Mijolla is a member of the Société
Psychanalytique de Paris, the International Psychoanalytical Association and Archives and
the History of Psychoanalysis Committee. Founder and president of the International
Association of the History of Psychoanalysis, he is the director of the Institute of the
History of Psychoanalysis of the EHESS Research Centre on Europe.
Foreign Sales : Gale Thompson (World English), Akal (World Spanish), Imago (Portuguese).
68
April 2002 – Reference book
2 volumes of 950 pages each
EAN : 9782702125304
BOHÈMES – The Bohemians
Dan Franck
They were and always will be the heroes of the Bohemian period : a magnificent era whose influences and
movements still reverberate at the turn of the twenty-first century.
Dan Franck's book covers the first thirty years of the 20th century, when Montmartre
and Montparnasse were filled with glorious subversives who were inventing modern art
and the literary language of the century : Picasso the gentle anarchist, Apollinaire the
eroticist, Modigliani and his women, Max Jacob and his men, the fiery Aragon, the
solitary Soutine, Man Ray, Gertrude Stein, Henri Matisse, Andre Breton and many
others.
They came from many different countries. They were painters, poets, sculptors,
musicians, and began seminal movements such as fauvism, cubism and surrealism.
Their lives were as flamboyant as their work ; they were hedonists, believed in free love
and broke all the rules of conventional Parisian society.
Dan Franck has written many books and his work has been published in over twenty-eight
countries.
Foreign Sales : Grove Atlantic (World English), Clio Publishing (Korean),
Psichogios (Greek), Dals (Romanian), Garzanti (Italian), Wydawnictwo Iskry (Polish),
Renmin UP (Simplified Chinese), SonM (Bulgarian), Sel Yayincilik (Turkish),
Parthas Verlag (German),Sluzbeni Glasnik (Serbian), L&PM (Portuguese/Brazil).
1998 – Essay/Art – 570 p.
EAN : 9782702129166
ESPRITS D’EUROPE. AUTOUR DE MILOSZ, PATOCKA ET BIBO
Spirits of Europe. A Study of Milosz, Patocka and Bibo
Alexandra Laignel-Lavastine
WINNER OF THE 2005 CHARLES VEILLON EUROPEAN ESSAY PRIZE
“It is shocking to realize that these great minds were „on the other side of the
wall‟ making a accurate analysis of our own [Western] society” – Syndicalisme Hebdo
Why are we building a European Union ? It is worthwhile to recall that this political
union was first envisioned to avoid reliving the atrocities that took place in Eastern
Europe in the 20th century. But how to put into place a system that would ensure man‟s
proper treatment of his fellow man ? Numerous intellectuals from Central and Eastern
Europe have dedicated their work if not their lives to this question.
March 2005 – Essay – 360 p.
EAN : 9782702134641
This extraordinary generation of thinkers was dominated by three figures : Czeslaw
Milosz (1911-2004), Polish poet and essayist, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature ;
Jan Patocka (1907-1977), leading dissident Czech philosopher, first spokesperson
(together with Vaclav Havel) of Charter 77 for the respect of civic and human rights,
who died after a long interrogation by the secret police ; and Istvan Bibo (1911-1979),
political thinker and hero of the 1956 revolution, who inspired the Hungarian
intelligentsia disappointed by Marxism.
Alexandra Laignel-Lavastine constructs her essay – a cross between philosophy, history of ideas and biography – around
the ideas, influence, and genius of these three “modern-day heroes”. Their connection with and influence by great minds
such as Hannah Arendt, Arthur Koestler, Max Weber, Hermann Broch and Milan Kundera is perceptible. In a lively,
vigorous style, the author shows us that the attempt of these thinkers to revamp the ethic foundations of European
civilisation is not a thing of the past but, in fact, a thing of the future.
Born in 1966, Alexandra Laignel-Lavastine is a philosopher and historian of ideas. She has devoted the main part of her works
to the intellectual history of Central Europe and is the author of Constantin Noica, Nationalisme et Philosophie (Humanitas, 1998), Jan
Patocka: l’esprit de la dissidence (Michalon, 1998), Cioran, Eliade, Ionesco : l’Oubli du fascisme (PUF, 2002).
Foreign Sales : Editura Est (Romanian), Shanghai Sanhui Press Culture (Simplified Chinese), Wydanictwo Pogranicze (Polish).
69
PASCAL QUIGNARD
Pascal Quignard was born in 1948. He won the Prix Goncourt in 2002 with Les Ombres errantes (Grasset). He is the
author of numerous novels, including Tous les matins du monde (1991, Gallimard), Terrasse à Rome (winner of the Grand Prix
du Roman de l‟Académie Française in 2000, Gallimard) and Villa Amalia (2006, Gallimard), and essays : Petits Traités
(1981, 1983, 1984, Clivages), La Leçon de musique (1987, Hachette), Le Nom sur le bout de la langue (1993, P.O.L), Le Sexe et
l’effroi (1994, Gallimard). Passionately fond of music since his childhood, he plays cello and has founded the Baroque
Opera and Theatre Festival in Versailles.
RHÉTORIQUE SPÉCULATIVE (1995)
“I call speculative rhetoric the antiphilosophical literary tradition that runs throughout the western history
since the invention of philosophy. I date its theoretical advent back to 139, in Rome. Its theorist was
Fronto.”
“Literature is language seen as a throwing weapon. (…) Human life relies on language like the arrow
relies on wind. (…) The archer’s target is the aiming eye. The whole book aims at a final point. The final
point is the only moment when the writer and the reader meet : they meet to say farewell. The final point is
the moment when they kill each other. The final point is the punctured eye. Then, imagination gives the
reader’s body back to reality, like the sea would leave a dead body on the shore.”
218 p. – EAN : 9782702123980
Foreign Sale : El Cuenco de Plata
(Spanish World rights).
Pascal Quignard explains through five short tracts that it is better to show rather than
demonstrate, that images are stronger than thoughts ; that obviousness exempts from
conviction and language from philosophy. Passionately fond of literature, an
unashamed literary-minded person, Quignard relies, among others, on the
conversations between Marcus Aurelius and Fronto and undertakes to rehabilitate the
latter. Marcus Cornelius Fronto, Marcus Aurelius‟ private tutor, hated philosophy and
religion and has been criticized throughout the history of literature, when he was not
simply forgotten. Beyond a mere reinstatement, this is a brilliant literary analysis by
Quignard, to whom, as well as to Fronto, literature is impervious to rationality, to
predictable.
With Speculative Rhetoric, Pascal Quignard immerses the reader in what he
calls, right from the dedication, “a defence of literary-minded people”, clever
and sincere.
LA HAINE DE LA MUSIQUE (1996)
A surprising and fascinating essay that guides us through a bright analysis on
music, our relation to sounds and to silence.
This book is composed of ten little tracts that calls on “the connections between
music and the pain from the constantly surrounding sounds”. It may seem paradoxical
from Pascal Quignard, in whose work music has a great significance. To explain this
paradox Quignard analyses several founding myths, among which Saint Peter whose
remorse was called up by a rooster‟s crow or the sirens‟ song in Ulysses‟ odyssey ; but
also the very origins of instruments, from their name to their production. He chooses
the example of the zither, or khitara, made out of tortoise shell, sheep guts and cow
skin, just like Ulysses‟ killing bow.
From the darkness of the first men‟s cavern to the darkest pages of our history, the
author shows us how music can be a source of pain. It can even become a slavery tool
for, as Quignard explains, “musical rhythms captivate the body‟s rhythms. (…)
Hearing and obedience are connected. A conductor-leader, performers-subordinates,
obedient people, such is the structure that is built by the execution of music.
Wherever there is a leader and subordinates, there is music.” He reminds us that in
the death camps during the Second World War, prisoners went in gas chambers
listening to music. Some conductors who came back from the camps, like Simon
Laks, but also other people who had always loved music, like Primo Levi, have
explained how music has become a suffering or related to the memory of this
suffering. Thus, “the phrase Hatred of music is used to express how loathsome music
can become even to who loved it most”.
70
328 p. – EAN : 9782702125434
Foreign Sales : El Cuenco de Plata
(Spanish World rights), Seido-Sha (Japanese).
LA TYRANNIE DE LA RÉALITÉ – The Tyranny of Reality
Mona Chollet
Mona Chollet analyses here the use of the notion of “reality” in media and political speeches. Going back
to the emergence of the notion, she exposes its consequences on every aspect of our cultural environment
and how it casts out a whole part of our society.
Nowadays few ideas are as hackneyed as that of “reality”. Politicians, company managers
as well as economists and novelists call on the spirit of reality claiming that only realism
seems to be acceptable and can amply justify everything. In our collective mind, reality
now represents the standard value.
Mona Chollet, an independent journalist, reveals with insight the pernicious use of this
concept in every type of discussion and shows how the realist injunction results of
deception and how it can cause great confusion.
Against the veneration of “reality”, Mona Chollet reviews the benefits of imagination and
dream. She gives an account of individual and collective experiences which explore the
“elsewhere” of society, of the individual, of work and of consumerism. She enters a
discussion about “dreamers” (G. Bachelard, M. Benasayag, J. Berger, I. Calvino,
R. Harrison, A. Le Brun, S. Rezvani, R. L. Stevenson, J. Sur, R. Walser…) and scientists
who share their views (B. d‟Espagnat, A. Berque), which does not prevent her from
condemning the perversions of dream (from bovarysm to all kinds of totalitarianism).
Thus the author joyfully suggests an alternative route, not to allow us to “flee reality” but
on the contrary to give us a chance to live it fully.
Mona Chollet was born in Geneva in 1973. She works as an independent journalist and
editor of the cultural critics website peripheries.net. She is the author of several books
including Marchands et citoyens, la guerre de l’Internet (L‟Atalante, 2001) and Beauté Fatale (Zone
éditions, 2012).
August 2004 – Essay – 368 p.
EAN : 9782702134948
French Sale : Paperback edition
(Folio).
Foreign Sale : Ksiazka Praza
Instytut (Polish).
ENQUÊTES SUR LES SAVOIRS INDIGÈNES
Exploring Indigenous Knowledge
Sylvie Crossman & Jean-Pierre Barou
A fascinating essay that can be read as a travel story and that has us meet with unfairly ill-known
populations, their culture and their spirituality.
When the authors of this study travelled around the world, they realized that
modern societies had a lot to learn from indigenous cultures. In Exploring Indigenous
Knowledge, Crossman and Barou chose to approach the traditional cultures of three
populations, Tibetans, Navajo, and Australian aboriginees, and take stock of
their wisdom through their art, medicine and beliefs.
Nechung, the Tibetan state Oracle ; Sam Begay, the Navajo medicine-man who
heals with Hozho, the Navajo word for beauty and health ; and Emily Kame
Kngwarreye, an Australian painter, all three guide Crossman and Barou in their
journey. With their help, we discover how ancestral wisdom is, indeed, true
knowledge.
Co-founder of the French newspaper, Libération, Jean-Pierre Barou is the author of
several books. Sylvie Crossman has been a foreign correspondent for the French
newspaper, Le Monde. Together they have founded Indigène éditions.
Foreign Sale : Ellago ediciones (Spanish).
September 2001 – Essay – 260 p.
EAN : 9782702131527
71
LA MUSE DÉMOCRATIQUE – The Democratic Muse
Mona Ozouf
With this book, which was awarded the 1998 Prix de l‟essai de l‟Académie française, Mona Ozouf explores
an ill-known aspect of Henry James‟s work : his analysis, throughout his work, of the impact of democracy
in modern societies.
Skilled analyst of the ambiguity of human feelings, a master at arousing perplexity in
the reader, Henry James stands alongside Woolf, Proust, Joyce, Musil, in the pantheon
of great writers that have shaken up the modern novel.
But James was also a particularly bright witness of the end of a time and the beginning
of an other. Before anyone else, he saw that the movement of equalization in modern
societies, irreversible and to be wished for, was preparing a world in which roles would
be confused, wealth would be ruling and where normality would be the commonplace
religion.
Mona Ozouf, a specialist of the democratic idea‟s history, explores here this ill-known
aspect of Henry James‟s work. Does the democratic muse still have a future ? The
show of a sheep-like humanity repels her, the decline of privacy makes her shiver,
relationships between men and women makes her desperate. To enlight this
disenchanted inspiration, thankfully, there is literature.
January 1998 – Essay – 300 p.
EAN : 9782702128244
Mona Ozouf, research professor at the CNRS, has dedicated most of her work to the
democratic idea and the French Revolution. She has published numerous books, among
which the Dictionnaire de la Révolution française with François Furet (Flammarion, 1988) Les
mots des femmes (Fayard, 1995) and La Cause des livres (Gallimard, 2011).
French Sale : Paperback edition (Fayard).
BLIND DATE – Blind Date. Sex and Philosophy
Anne Dufourmantelle
Blind Date imagines this meeting between sex and philosophy, not as a real tête-à-tête, but as it has always been
happening, that is to say indirectly, blindly, in areas that are common to neither : love letters, thought, eroticism,
writing…
Blind date is said of a rendez-vous between two strangers, organized by an absent third
party who knows them both.
Philosophy – starting with astonishment (Aristotles), declaring itself the science of being,
hoping to be the curer of the soul, finding its etymology as “love of wisdom”, seeing itself
as a spiritual education, rectifying itself as logic of statements, delivering itself at length in
textbooks, written in all languages but supposedly thinking in one... – is slowly vanishing.
Sex – it finishes when explanations become necessary, it is commented upon only at its
disappearance, it upsets all theory trying to circumscribe its effects… It is present
everywhere, all the time, and is perpetually missing.
It is said that the rendez-vous was made three thousand years ago. Officially, that is. But it
has been postponed ever since.
Born in Paris in 1964, Anne Dufourmantelle is a philosopher and psychoanalyst. She is the
author of several books including La Sauvagerie maternelle (Calmann-Lévy, 2001), La Femme et le
Sacrifice (Denoël, 2007) and Éloge du risque (Payot, 2011).
Foreign Sales : Donzelli Editore (Italian), Illinois University Press (English).
72
Septembre 2003 – Essay – 220 p.
EAN : 9782702134023
DICTIONNAIRE DES ASSASSINS ET DES MEURTRIERS
Murderers‟ Dictionary
Under the direction of François Angelier & Stéphane Bou
A unique historical, philosophical, literary, aesthetic and anthropological look at murder, real and
imagined. In this unusual dictionary of both hard homicidal fact and fictional invention, several academics,
philosophers, historians, writers, journalists and critics present and reflect upon 80 infamous assassins,
from Cain to serial killer Charles Manson by way of Nero, Charlotte Corday, Jack the Ripper and the Columbine
massacre perpetrators Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, without forgetting the most remarkable murderers of
fiction such as Hannibal Lecter, the Black Dahlia, Dexter, Othello, Raskolnikov or Fritz Lang's M.
The horrific details and courtroom drama surrounding certain killings
often see murderers and assassins pushed into the limelight, their
enigmatic and fearsome faces briefly occupying center stage before
vanishing, forever, when the news grows stale. Some do live on in our
memories, however, embodying perhaps a myth or an era, or symbolizing
certain latent hostilities, driving forces, phantasms or underlying fears of
society as a whole. The Papin sisters' killing of their mistress, for example,
would obsess both the Surrealists and Jacques Lacan. Then, of course,
there is Brutus, but also Gavrilo Princip whose assassination of Archduke
Franz Ferdinand of Austria is inextricably tied to a critical chapter of
history : World War I.
Yet the fictional assassins of certain plays, novels and films can also hold
fascinating sway over the public. Often inspired by real life events and
sometimes even inspiring them, certain literary perpetrators, like their
homicidal cousins of history, have been the subject of countless volumes
of critical analysis.
In brief, an original inventory of fictional and real-life murderers that have
marked the history of mankind.
September 2012 – Dictionary – 600 p.
EAN : 9782702143063
François Angelier is a radio producer and presenter at France Culture.
Stéphane Bou is a journalist and a radio presenter. He and Élisabeth de Fontenay are the coauthors of Actes de
naissance (Éditions du Seuil, 2011).
Authors :
Olivier Py, Romain Slocombe, Élisabeth de Fontenay, Arlette Farge, Christian Jambet, François
L‟Yvonnet, Claude Schopp, etc.
Critical acclaim :
“A diverse group of philosophers, sociologists and historians take a look at the human soul in light of crime. A
fascinating and thought-provoking dictionary that reads like a detective novel.” – Rolling Stone Magazine
“Both a fascinating portrait gallery and a scholarly compendium, to read like a thriller.” – Le Figaro Magazine
“All of the entries in this brilliant Dictionary – both accessible and incredibly erudite – deserve to be quoted.”
Le Monde des Livres
73
SUR LES TRACES DES CHRÉTIENS OUBLIÉS
Among the Forgotten Christians
Charles Guilhamon
An uncontroversial yet extremely lively account of the Church's position in the world today, exploring both
the difficulties facing Christians in a number of countries and the vitality of their faith. An adventurepacked travel narrative full of extraordinary – and at times tragic – encounters, as well as an inspirational
questioning of mankind.
“An extraordinary travel account attesting both today‟s disturbing rise of intolerance and
fanaticism and – through inspirational encounters – the inexhaustible power of dreams
of fraternity.” – L’Est-éclair
Right after graduation, Charles and Gabriel decide to ride their bikes around the world.
They give themselves a year and a very tight budget : 1€ per person, per day. They will
cover 11,000 kilometers, finding refuge among Christians in countries where they are a
minority, barely tolerated and even persecuted.
Thus do they visit communities who practice their faith the way the first Christians did.
We will stay with the Baghdad Chaldeans in Iraq, encounter the Christians of Nepal
immediately after a church bombing, be admitted to a clandestine Catholic community in
China and meet the new inhabitants of the Tibhirine monastery in Algeria, as well as a
priest without parishioners in Mauritania and parishioners without a priest in the heart
of the Amazon.
September 2012 – Travel literature/
Religion – 450 p.
EAN : 9782702143117
Charles Guilhamon is a recent graduate of the prestigious ESSEC business school. He is
the head of a company dedicated to the social and solidarity economy.
LES RELIGIONS, LE SEXE ET NOUS – On Religion and Sex
Aurélie Godefroy
Preface by Frédéric Lenoir
The troubled history of God and sex. Desire, homosexuality, virginity, polygamy... The present book,
written for the general public, sheds informative light on the world's great faiths while putting an end to
certain misconceptions.
The present work sets out to study the complex relations between the world's main
religions and the many facets of human sexuality. What exactly do sacred texts have
to say about sex ? Based on a careful reading of the sacred texts of the four main
world religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Judaism) as well as the
numerous interpretations that have been made over the course of history, the author
gives us an overview of the various written sources, turning to the experts of each of
the four faiths to ask questions – even of most delicate nature. The volume, conceived
and written with respect for all religious traditions, neither advocates nor attacks the
rules of religions. Its sole purpose is to provide detailed and substantiated information
on certain controversial issues. We will discover, for example, that :
 Sexual games between spouses have always been warmly encouraged in the texts of
Judaism and Islam.
 Sexologists today still use Monk Cassian's advice, from the 4th and 5th century, on
how to control one's libido when counseling sex addicts.
 While the Bible explicitly forbids male homosexuality in certain texts, it also has a
few more ambiguous heroes, such as David or Jonathan.
 For centuries, Catholicism has looked favorably upon the practice of masturbation.
Journalist specialized in religious questions, Aurélie Godefroy presents the weekly French
television program Sagesses bouddhistes. She is the author of several essays and is a regular
contributor to Le Monde des religions.
74
October 2012 – Essay – 250 p.
EAN : 9782702144114
French Sale : Paperback edition (Le Livre
de Poche).
LA CONDITION NOIRE
On Being Black, an Essay on a French Minority
Pap Ndiaye
This book, with its dynamic and readable style, analyzes the experiences of men and women from the 18th
century until today, the past and the present of Black people in France.
World-class athletic exploits, claims and protests over historic slavery issues, riots in
housing projects. In the past decade, Blacks living in metropolitan France have often
made headlines, sometimes unwillingly. They have gained sufficient national, public
visibility to warrant using the term “Black French identity”.
Should it come as a surprise that there are actually more books in France on Black
Americans than on Black French people ? This groundbreaking work on Black French
studies by Pap Ndiaye is devoted entirely to Black Identity.
This book examines Blacks in France from the point of view of their history, their
sociology, and what impacts their existence as individuals and as a group. The author
brilliantly demonstrates that Black French identity refers to a social situation that is
neither class, cast, or community. It is rather a minority, meaning a group of people
having shared the same social experience of being generally considered as Blacks.
Historian Pap Ndiaye teaches social sciences at the École des Hautes Études in Paris.
April 2008 – Essay – 440 p.
EAN : 9782702138076
LE TRIBUNAL DES VAINCUS :
The Tribunal of the Defeated : a Nuremberg for Rwanda ?
Thierry Cruvellier
The first extensive study on the attempt to bring justice to the victims of the Rwandan genocide.
“Thierry Cruvellier, a dedicated and thorough observer, tells this story with a critical and
merciless eye.” – Amnesty International
In 1994, in Tanzania, under the auspices of the UNO, the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda was established for the prosecution of persons responsible for the
genocide : a new Nuremberg was underway. But the six judges and the Attorney quickly
met with numerous obstacles : very few written records, vague hierarchies and the fact
that, contrary to the Shoah, the confrontation in Rwanda was ethnic, with many victims
on both sides.
In 1996, Canadian Louise Arbour was appointed Attorney, with the aim of establishing a
more rigorous framework for the prosecution of the principal actors in the genocide, like
the Nuremberg trial. This implied abandoning the two most politically sensitive
problems: the attack on President Habyarimana‟s plane which sparked the extermination,
and the Rwandan Patriotic Front‟s crimes, i.e. those committed by the Tutsi.
April 2006 – Essay – 272 p.
EAN : 9782702136706
Foreign Sale : University of
This strategy destined the trial to fail. Attacked on all sides, accused of partisanship, the
tribunal was quickly put on the defensive. Ten years after its creation, the international
community ended the trial, thereby showing the limits of justice affected by powers
external to the conflict, and demonstrating that a more partial and less courageous form
of justice than that of the victors was possible.
Wisconsin Press (World English).
Thierry Cruvellier is editor of International Justice Tribune. From 1997 to 2002, he was the
only international journalist to cover the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in
Tanzania on a full-time basis. From 1994 to 1995, he was based in Rwanda as representative
of Reporters Without Borders.
75
DE DAKAR À PARIS – Africa at an Easy Pace
Pierre Cherruau
A sensitive and original account combining snapshots of everyday life in Africa and the author's personal
reflexions. Pierre Cherruau set out to leave Dakar and to jog, at an easy pace, all the way to Paris ; in other
words, to let his feet – and his encounters – guide him.
Why Dakar ? Because the Senegalese capital is a city unlike any other. It is both a
magnificent peninsula and the westernmost point of continental Africa. The destination ?
Far-off Europe, now so difficult to enter through legal channels.
Although his papers were all in order, Pierre Cherruau chose to take the continent's
byways, to faithfully depict the lands he had so frequently crisscrossed as a reporter. Thus
he decided to follow the coastline on foot, not as a physical or athletic exploit, but to let
the people of Africa tell their own story : why so many of them dream of leaving their
homeland at all costs, even if it means risking their lives ; and why so many others firmly
believe in the future of Africa.
The author's journey, in more ways than one, was also highly personal. Running was a way
of spiritually reconnecting with his father, the other Pierre Cherruau, also a journalist and
a writer, who had disappeared too soon, after introducing him to running and giving him a
taste for freedom.
April 2013 – Document, Travel,
Running – 300 p.
EAN : 9782702144930
This book is also a “stolen interlude”, allowing the journalist to escape the frantic pace of
news today and to rediscover the veritable essence of reporting.
Pierre Cherruau is the editor of Slate Afrique. He lived in Nigeria and Benin for several years
before heading the Africa division of the Courrier International for fourteen years. He has written
over a dozen books on Africa.
UNE MER SANS POISSONS – A Fishless Sea
Philippe Cury & Yves Miserey
Backed by facts and irrefutable evidence, A Fishless Sea is a chilling wake up call that nevertheless leaves
room for hope. The effects of over-fishing are still reversible if a worldwide moratorium on the fishing of
endangered species is imposed.
The ocean, for most of us, is a realm of beauty, romance and adventure. Yet
“Somewhere Beyond the Sea”, as the song goes, a terrible tragedy is taking place : man is
killing off the earth's greatest resource. Indeed, the practice of commercial and noncommercial fishing in the last one hundred and fifty years has depleted the ocean's
fisheries, once considered inexhaustible.
Indeed, high-sea, deep-sea and today's “small fish” fishing practices are transforming
the world's oceans into aquatic deserts. From the commercial fishing fleet to the
traditional pirogue, boats are ever more efficient, making it profitable to fish new
species that were once considered non-comestible.
Blind, systematic plundering and horrendous “waste” have already wiped out entire
species, causing the catastrophic destabilization of the marine ecosystem. The brutal
and irreversible collapse of our fishing resources is no longer a fanciful hypothesis.
What are our governments doing ? Little, or nothing : ocean waters are international,
they belong to everyone. A world government, albeit difficult to establish, is the only
way of stopping the massacre. Individual countries, however, fear the wrath of their
fishing industries.
Doctor of science Philippe Cury conducts Mediterranean and tropical marine research at
the CNRS. Yves Miserey is a science journalist for the French daily Le Figaro.
76
April 2008 – Current Events /
Environmental Studies
286 p. – EAN : 9782702138687
Foreign Sales : NTT Shuppan (Japanese),
Heliopolis Culture Group (Complex Chinese),
Institut d’Estudit Catalans (Catalan).
NICOLAS HULOT
Nicolas Hulot, has been the star presenter of Ushuaïa Nature on French TV since 1987. Man of camera, man of
communication, he is also a man of thought and action : his Nicolas Hulot Foundation for Nature and Mankind are dedicated
to environmental education. His latest book, Plus haut que mes rêves, has been published by Calmann-Lévy in 2013.
LE SYNDROME DU TITANIC – The Titanic Syndrome
The days of our world are numbered. Like the passengers aboard the Titanic, we
are dancing and laughing in the dark with the selfishness and arrogance of
superior beings, convinced we are “our own masters and the masters of the
universe”.
And yet, the signs of the disaster are piling up : a series of climatic disturbances,
omnipresent pollution, exponential extinction of animal and plant species, the
depletion of natural resources. We behave as if we were alone in the world and
the last generation to occupy the Earth. This book is a warning cry before giving
way to despair : if all of us, rich and poor, do not immediately change our
behavior in order to do “better with less” and to concentrate our individual and
collective decisions on ecology, we will sink together because we are all on the
same boat. We must stick together with the living and with the future.
The Titanic Syndrome is an essential reading that should be read with the utmost
urgency. We cannot say we did not know any longer.
French Sales : Book-club editions (GLM & France Loisirs), Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche).
Foreign Sales : Piemme (Italian), Star Publishing (Korean).
April 2004 – Current Events / Ecology
242 p. – EAN : 9782702134184
LE SYNDROME DU TITANIC 2 – The Titanic Syndrome 2
Two centuries of uninterrupted growth have led us to believe that through sheer
ingenuity, mankind could eternally provide for its ever-increasing needs. Growth,
and its twin Progress, are leaving human beings out in the cold in increasing
numbers, and our support system, planet Earth, is nearing exhaustion. It would
take five or six such planets to provide the raw materials and energy required by
emerging economies to gain access to a lifestyle similar to that of the developed
world. An essential point : in today‟s globalized societies, the internet and TV bring
evidence of Western wealth, excess and waste into poverty-stricken homes half way
around the globe at the speed of light. Temptation leads to frustration, and
frustration breeds humiliation, the mother of all political violence.
November 2009 – Current Events
216 p. – EAN : 9782702139608
For the industrialized countries, it is time to curb, for the meantime at least, our
Gargantuan appetite and consider, for the first time in our history, cutting back,
making do with less, trading down. We must now rise to a challenge that exceeds in
scope what we can achieve through sustainable growth initiatives, essential as they
may be. It entails no less than finding ways to prosper as a community, in zerogrowth economies. Frugality and sharing are the keys to our future, and by forcing
us to reconsider our priorities, the current crisis might be a blessing in disguise.
French Sales : Paperback edition (J’ai Lu), Book-club edition (GLM).
77
EMMANUELLE GRUNDMANN
Emmanuelle Grundmann is a biologist, a naturalist and a primatologist. She has been president of the French chapter
of the Jane Goodall Institute and the wirldlife association Awely. She has published a number of books examining
animal and human interaction, including Ces forêts qu'on assassine (2007), Demain, seuls au monde ? (2010) and Un Fléau si
rentable (2013) all of which are published by Calmann-Lévy.
CES FORÊTS QU‟ON ASSASSINE – The Assassination of Forests
Prefaced by Jane Goodall. Forests are the lungs of the earth but they are now being devoured by a chronic
cancer for which we, humans, bear full responsibility. It is our hope that this book will open people‟s eyes
and encourage them to contribute to stopping the slaughter before it is too late.
The alarming state of this dying forest in Borneo is not new to Emmanuelle
Grundmann. She knows that man has already destroyed half of the world‟s forests,
and that each year, around 16 million more hectares are massacred. Yesterday it was
for rubber, today for palm oil, in some places for shrimp, in others for paper pulp.
The forest‟s resources have long since been coveted by humans, who pillage,
destroy and pollute it by eliminating endogenous species and chasing out native
populations in order to make profit for a select few.
The Assassination of Forests is written by an activist who reveals, through heavy
documentation and statistics, the catastrophic short/mid/long-term consequences
of rapidly increasing deforestation. The author condemns those responsible for
devastating the forest, lists them by name and calls them abruptly to consciousness.
Foreign Sale : Riemann Verlag (German).
March 2007 – Current Events
288 p. – EAN : 9782702137697
DEMAIN, SEULS AU MONDE ? – Tomorrow, Alone in the World ?
A complete demonstration of the importance of biodiversity and its frailty.
At a time when we as humans are finally coming to understand and appreciate the
complex and almost infinite diversity present in the world, we are also realizing,
perhaps too late, that we are diversity‟s worst enemy though we cannot survive
without it. The sixth incidence of mass extinction is occurring, but this time
around, the main instigator is Homo sapiens.
The scenario is straight out of a science fiction novel : in polar conditions, a small
group of determined, heavily armed men trying to break in to a high-security vault
in order to steal… seeds ! The year is 2100, and nothing is left of the biodiversity
that once upon a time populated the planet, except these specimens kept deep in
the vault of Svalbard‟s seed bank : outside, in the real world, no animals, no crops,
no trees, even, have survived. With a little help from a few greedy multinational
corporations, biodiversity, agriculture and cattle raising have collapsed. Man finds
himself alone in the world. Science fiction ? Perhaps not...
What is biodiversity ? How did it come about ? What purpose does it serve ?
What makes it a prerequisite to our own survival ? What is Man‟s role in this sixth
extinction in progress ? Those are the questions this book offers answers to, not
only through a survey of Man and nature‟s complex relationships throughout
History, but also through the prism of alternative scenarios for the centuries to
come. Perhaps it is still time to reverse the trend.
78
January 2010 – Current Events
256 p. – EAN : 9782702139790
DANBÉ – Danbé
Aya Cissoko & Marie Desplechin
A moving and international picture of a woman in her thirties written by the deft pen of an accomplished
author.
WINNER OF THE 2011 MADAME FIGARO PRIZE.
After a happy childhood spent in Paris, Aya, the daughter of Malian villagers
having immigrated, would know all the hardships of growing up in a poor and
uprooted family. Her childhood comes to an abrupt end when a fire breaks out in
the Cissoko's building killing Aya's father and little sister. Less than a year later, her
younger brother dies of acute meningitis. Alone with her two eldest children,
Massiré, Aya's mother suffering from kidney failure, stands up to her family in
Mali, decides to remain in France and has two kidney transplants. Many people
would have been destroyed by less but Massiré with the support of her two
children, doesn't give up. She encourages her children to be athletic and good
students.
Having taken up boxing at the age of 8, Aya proves to be extremely talented.
Boxing brings out the best in her. At the age of 26, she has a perfect year : she
becomes World Amateur Boxing champion. As her last fight leaves her halfparalyzed, she loses everything and she will never box again. However, with dignity
(danbé in her native language Bambara) and courage, she refuses to surrender and
becomes a student of the prestigious Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris.
Marie Desplechin is the author of over thirty children's books, a dozen novels
(L‟Olivier, Le Seuil, Actes Sud) and several magazine short stories. She has co-written
numerous scenarios and makes occasional journalistic contributions to Le Monde des
livres and L’Express Style. She is the coauthor, with Lydie Violet, of La Vie sauve, winner
of the 2005 Prix Médicis for essays.
February 2011 – Autobiography
192 p. – EAN : 9782702141755
French Sales : Book-club edition (GLM),
Paperback edition (Point Seuil).
Foreign Sale : Editorial Almed (Spanish).
TV Sale option : Europacorp / Cipango.
INTERDIT AUX NOMADES – Forbidden to Nomads
Raymond Gurême – with Anne-Isabelle Ligner
85-years-old Raymond Gurême is one of the rare survivors of a forgotten chapter of French history : the 1940
to 1946 internment of “nomadic” families in France.
Born in France in 1925, Raymond was an acrobat and a clown in the family circus.
Since 1940, his family is persecuted by the Vichy government which views all Roma as
“wandering foreigners”. The family is placed successively in two camps in France. Cut
off from the rest of the world, they lack food, heat and sanitary living conditions.
Raymond is a true descendant of the Sons of the Wind and refusing to be locked up, he
manages to escape from correctional center, French internment camps and German
work camp alike putting his acrobatic skills to work, the clown in him buoying his
spirits in even the direst of situations.
At the age of 18, he joins the French Resistance and actively participates in the
liberation of France. His service to his country never received any official recognition.
Today, Raymond is a patriarch and lives with his family (15 children and 150
descendants) only a few kilometers from his first internment camp. This true yet epic
story of a colorful character who defied death again and again is a timely testimonial to
the tribulations of a people.
May 2011 – Autobiography – 232 p.
EAN : 9782702142219
Foreign Sale : Piemme (Italian).
85-year-old Raymond Gurême is a French Rom and former nomad.
Veteran AFP journalist Anne-Isabelle Ligner has written about numerous conflicts,
dealing in particular with issues of immigration, exclusion and more recently the Roma.
79
ADOLFO KAMINSKY, UNE VIE DE FAUSSAIRE
Adolfo Kaminsky, the Life of a Counterfeit Artist
Sarah Kaminsky
“...I‟ve got to stay awake, as long as possible. Fight off sleep. The math is simple. In one hour I can make
false papers for thirty people. If I sleep for an hour, thirty people will die...”
This is the incredible story of Adolfo Kaminsky‟s life as a counterfeit artist, active
from 1943 to 1971. His convictions lead him to spend his entire life in hiding, guided
by survival instincts, necessity and danger alone. A race against the clock – and against
death – in which every minute truly counted.
A genius forger, he devoted his life to aiding the great opposition movements of the
20th century, working for the French Resistance and the Algerian FLN, providing
false papers for Jews emigrating to Palestine, teaching counterfeiting techniques to
the combatants of repressive regimes in Spain (under Franco) and Greece (during the
Regime of the Colonels), and aiding the freedom movements of Latin America and
Africa.
This book questions the notions of commitment, destiny, free choice and
consequences. When Kaminsky, at the age of 17, begins making forgeries for the
Resistance, little does he realize that he is already caught up in an inexorable
mechanism : that of his own sense of duty towards fellow man. This is also a dialog
September 2009 – Non-fiction narrative between a father and a daughter. Sarah, born in 1979, attempts to understand her
208 p. – EAN : 9782702122778
father's unusual destiny, giving us the account of a man whose very existence was a
secret and who accepts, at last, to speak of the past.
French Sales : Book-club editions
Sarah Kaminsky was born in Algeria and has lived in France since she was three. Today,
(GLM & France Loisirs)
Foreign Sales : Angelo Colla Editore she is both an actress and playwright. Adolfo Kaminsky, une vie de faussaire is her first book.
(Italian), Kinneret Zmora Dvir (Hebrew),
Antje Kunstmann (German), Capital Intelectual (Spanish).
MOI PIERRE SEEL, DÉPORTÉ HOMOSEXUEL
I, Pierre Seel, Deported Homosexual
Pierre Seel
Pierre Seel remained active until late in life in his personal crusade, publicly airing the long-overlooked
tragedy of the homosexual holocaust. His account of his suffering and his plea for justice are heartrending
in their dignified restraint.
On a 1941 fateful day, in Nazi-occupied Strasbourg, 17-year-old Pierre Seel was
summoned by the Gestapo. He had made the mistake of reporting a theft that had
occurred in a gay area of town. The police added his name to a list of suspected
homosexuals that was soon turned over to the occupying Germans. To attempt escape
would have meant the arrest and deportation of his family, so young Seel chose instead
to report to Gestapo headquarters, starting out on a journey that would take him from
the safety and innocence of his teenage existence to the horrors of the war.
In this brief, powerful memoir, he recalls the details of his arrest and torture by the
Gestapo and his horrific experiences at the Schirmeeck-Vorbruch concentration camp
in Alsace, where homosexuals were the most despised of prisoners. Inexplicably
released in 1941, he was drafted into the German army, saw action on various fronts
and managed to survive the war. In 1981, outraged by a prominent bishop's
characterization of homosexuals as “sick”, he became inspired with a sense of
obligation to obtain recognition for what had happened to some 350,000 homosexuals
during the war, and his public statements became a famous cause in France. Pierre Seel
passed away in 2005.
Foreign Sales : Basic Books (English/US), Text (Russian), Cassara Editora (Portuguese/Brazil).
80
April 1994 – Autobiography
264 p. – EAN : 9782702140321
LES SŒURS BEAUVOIR – The Beauvoir Sisters
Claudine Monteil
Great historical moments, such as Jean-Paul Sartre‟s funeral and the feminist struggle for legalizing
abortion are relived through the eyes of these incredible women.
One was blond, the other was a brunette. One a painter, the other a writer. One
was docile, the other was a rebel. Despite their differences, Hélène and Simone
de Beauvoir were united by an indestructible love. Neither time nor diverging
aesthetic or political opinions ever managed to shake it. But their correspondence
and memories reveal an equivocal relationship in which love is tainted with
condescendence on Simone‟s part, and with jealousy on Hélène‟s, Hélène being a
less talented artist and eternally in the shadow of her world famous elder sister.
Beyond the ambiguities of this attachment, we discover the lives of two women
who passionately dreamed of a life different from that of their mother and from
that of all the submissive and virtuous women who came before them – those
women who always spoke in terms of duty. To exist as women and as artists : such
was the parallel struggle of the Beauvoir sisters.
Claudine Monteil is a historian focusing on women of the 20th century and a specialist
on Beauvoir sisters, whom she knew personally. She is the author of several works
including Simone de Beauvoir, Mémoires d’une jeune fille rebelle (Ed. du Rocher, 1996), and
two novelistic biographies, Les Amants de la liberté, on Sartre and Beauvoir (Éditions n°1,
1999) and Les Amants des temps modernes on Charlie and Oona Chaplin (Éditions n°1,
2002).
March 2003 – Biography
300 p. – EAN : 9782846121132
Foreign Sales : The Seal Press (World English), Circe (World Spanish), Silcheonmunhak (Korean),
Langen-Müller (German), People’s Literary Publishing House (Simplified Chinese), Castelvecchi (Italian).
UN HOMO DANS LA CITÉ – On Being Gay in the Projects
Brahim Naït-Balk
The inspirational story of a young man of North African descent coming to terms with his homosexuality.
Brahim Naït-Balk grew up ashamed. Ashamed of himself, ashamed of his
sexuality, ashamed of the difference isolating him from the rest of his family :
homosexuality. How does a Muslim, a Berber, the eldest of a large Moroccan family,
reconcile his particular nature with his cultural background ? How can he construct
his identity with an absent father and an overly possessive mother ? And above all
how is he to find happiness in the projects, where virility is a badge of honour, boys
are programmed to dominate and the law of the jungle rules ? The sensitive and
romantic Brahim dreams of love only to be subjugated to violence, sexual aggression
and the daily humiliations of neighbourhood bullies.
For years he lived in fear, hugging the walls, trying not to be noticed. And then one
day he decided he'd had enough. At the age of 30, he comes out of the closet and
declares his sexual preference. Many hurdles must be overcome, but he is ready for
them, ready to bear with pride the burden of being different. Today at the age of 45,
he hosts a radio program on homosexuality and coaches the Gay Paris Football
team.
October 2009 – Non fiction narrative
200 p. – EAN : 9782702140147
Un homo dans la cité is a story of transformation, of one man's choosing freedom over
fear to come into his own.
Un homo dans la cité is Brahim Naït-Balk‟s first book.
81
STALINE, VIE PRIVÉE – The Private Life of Staline
Lilly Marcou
The man behind the legend and the shadow of the legendary figure of Joseph Stalin fell over most of the 20th
century.
This work attempts to shed light on the mystery of the man behind the legend, to
understand the inner-workings of his personality based on previously unpublished
archival information, as well as accounts from surviving family members and close
friends.
Author Lilly Marcou dives into the large quantity of Soviet documents available to
Western researchers in order to question established notions and bring the shadowy
areas of Stalin‟s life into light. She distinguishes hearsay from truth, analyzes certain
controversies and reveals little-known facts.
It is easy to think that a dictator under whose regime so many atrocities were
committed can be nothing other than a monster. By looking at him as a whole human
being, he becomes all the more vulnerable before the judging eyes of history.
March 1996 – Biography
352 p. – EAN : 9782702125892
Born in 1936, Lilly Marcou headed a research group working on the international
Communist movement for the Centre d‟études et de recherches internationales (1975 –
1981) before teaching at SciencesPo in Paris from 1982 to 1988. She has written
numerous works including Les Défis de Gorbatchev (Plon, 1988), Ilya Ehrenbourg, un homme
dans son siècle (Plon, 1992) and Elsa Triolet, les yeux et la mémoire (Plon, 1994).
Foreign Sales : Arenula (Italian), Wydawnictwo Iskry (Polish), Levne Knihy (Czech),
Duna Kiado (Hungarian), Jorge Zahar (Brazilian), El Ateneo (Spanish/Latin America),
Family Leisure Club (Russian).
HERMANN HESSE, POÈTE OU RIEN
Hermann Hesse, a Poet and Nothing Else
François Mathieu
A complete and comprehensive biography, based on Hesse's twenty volumes Complete Works as well as the
four volumes of his Correspondence and the writer's numerous accounts of his family and friends, explores
both the profoundly human values and the artistic devotion of a man who was “a poet, and nothing else”.
By the time he was twelve, Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) had already decided he would
be a poet, and nothing else, a decision his unbending family took as a sign of madness.
Hesse would persevere, however, and in 1946, he would be awarded the Nobel Prize in
Literature. The poet's philosophy of perseverance as the path to self-fulfillment is
reflected in all of his literary creations. Indeed, Peter Camenzind, Knulp, Demian,
Siddhartha, Harry Haller, the “Steppenwolf”, and Joseph Knecht in The Glass Bead Game
all convey the same message : rise up against yourself, free yourself from the constraints
that prevent you from living, dare to break with the old and to start anew.
The author gives us a vivid portrayal of the writer, starting from his childhood. He
examines, in particular, the subtlety of Hesse's thought, influenced by the teachings of
Nietzsche and Eastern philosophies, and recounts the author's slow and definitive retreat
to the Swiss village of Tessin. François Mathieu sets out to encounter the writer,
uncovering along the way a universal body of work rooted in the depths of the human
soul and in a love of nature.
Former journalist, François Mathieu is a translator, literary critic and author. He has
translated numerous German literary greats, including Grimm, Kafka, Brecht and
Wassermann. He also edited, translated, and introduced a collection of texts by Hermann
Hesse, Brèves nouvelles de mon jardin (Calmann-Lévy, 2005).
82
August 2012 – Biography – 550 p.
EAN : 9782702143377
Foreign Sale : Shanghai
Century Literature (Simplified
Chinese).
SERIES « UNE VIE DE PINTADE »
Directed by Layla Demay & Laure Watrin
Written by female journalists living on-site and set up like an advice column, the authors go behind the scenes
of major world cities to give an insider‟s view of the different slices of life with funny and inspired illustrations.
A pintade, which translates as “guinea fowl”, is neither a chick nor a turkey, not even a pheasant and definitely not a birdbrain.
There‟s nothing demeaning about this bird name. This fowl, native to Africa, symbolizes liberated women (contrary to chicks, a
guinea fowl knows how to fly, though not very well !) and is the perfect representation of today‟s woman : both serious and
light, feminine and feminist. A woman who wants it all, who tries to juggle home and work life and stay on top of everything
while claiming the right to indulge in frivolous things once in a while ! The guinea fowl is an attractive bird who is fierce,
gregarious, unruly, independent, and who makes a lot of noise…
Across the globe, whether in Paris, Buenos Aires, Beirut or Tokyo, women ask themselves the same questions, but the answers
differ according to culture and geographic location. Love, seduction, sex, male-female relations, women‟s place in society, in the
working world, political freedom, children, body image, beauty, shopping, fashion. All of these themes are present in this series
and are addressed with multicultural flair, humour and a light spirit.
You can also visit the dedicated website including news, quizzes and good places all over the world : www.lespintades.com
2013 NEW TITLE : THE PINTADES IN SOUTH AFRICA
French Sale for all titles : Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche)
Foreign Sales for Une vie de Pintade à Paris : Business Weekly Publications (Complex Chinese),
Time Books (Korean), Lijiang Publishing House (Simplified Chinese), Ripol-Classic (Russian).
LES PINTADES PASSENT A LA CASSEROLE
A “3 in 1” book : a culinary expedition into Paris and New York, a foodie‟s
guide and a gourmet cookbook.
“Tell me what you are eating, and I'll tell you what kind of Pintade you are.” Such is the
adage of Layla Demay and Laure Watrin who take to the kitchens of fellow chicks in
Paris and New York.
In a thorough investigation of a number of themes – families and mealtime, cooking and
socializing, feelings and food – our feathered reporters meet with renowned chefs,
amateur cooks, supermarket managers, VIP food gurus, cheesemakers and fishermen
alike, to reveal their favourite recipes.
To top it all off, ten great chefs from Paris and New York (including Daniel Boulud,
Mario Batali, Wyllie Dufresne, Inaki Aizpitarte, Adeline Grattard and William
Ledeuil) join the fellowship of the fowl, offering up their own recipes, which all include
pintade (or guinea fowl) in their list of ingredients.
October 2010 – Lifestyle / Travel
EAN : 9782702141434
Foreign Sale : Ripol-Classic
(Russian)
83
PETITES PHILOSOPHIES – A Dose of Philosophy series
Catherine Rambert
We all know it is difficult to discern our happiness amongst the stress, the noise and worries of every day
life. With one thought per page and one philosophical tale for every season, this collection brings together
365 thoughts, aphorisms, or hints to help the reader take a step back and acquire more wisdom, appreciate
inner peace‟s silent presence, develop it through simple actions and share it with others.
PETITE PHILOSOPHIE DU MATIN – A Dose of philosophy in the morning
Do you wish you be calmer, more balanced and happier in your day-to-day life ? This title suggests simple
daily strategies that everyone can use to succeed and maintain peace of mind when dealing with the day‟s
hassles. What better time than the morning, with its promise of a fresh, new start, to make good resolutions?
(2001)
French Sales : Book-club edition (GLM), Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche).
Foreign Sales : Random House (German), Armenia (Italian).
PETITE PHILOSOPHIE DU SOIR – A Dose of philosophy in the evening
What valuable lessons can we learn at the end of each day ? Can we avoid repeating today‟s mistakes
tomorrow ? Did we seize the day ? A Dose of philosophy in the evening offers advice and stratagems to reflect
upon at the end of the day, and what better moment than the nighttime to review the hours gone by and
make simple resolutions for tomorrow. (2002)
French Sales : Book-club edition (GLM), Paperback edition (Le Livre de Poche).
Foreign Sales : Ripol (Russian), Armenia (Italian).
PETITE PHILOSOPHIE DE LA PAIX INTÉRIEURE – A Dose of philosophy for Inner Peace
The search for inner peace is the eternal quest of all human beings. To be in peace, to live as well as possible
with one's self and with others. To seek harmony in all things and be aware of one's luck, to love, share and
exchange, and taste the pleasures of the moment... (2004)
Foreign Sale : Armenia (Italian).
PETITE PHILOSOPHIE POUR CEUX QUI VEULENT ATTEINDRE LE
SOMMET DE LA MONTAGNE – A Dose of philosophy for those who want
to reach the top of the mountain
Getting to the top of the mountain, fulfilling one‟s dreams, or fully succeed, to lead a happy private and
professional life, to be in harmony with oneself, to surpass oneself, to reach for the stars… who hasn‟t
dreamt of this ? (2006)
Foreign Sale : Armenia (Italian).
PETITE PHILOSOPHIE POUR SURMONTER LES CRISES
A Dose of philosophy for Overcoming Difficulties
With the world economic crisis hitting home, how are we to maintain a positive outlook ? How are we to
keep our spirits up and put things into perspective – or even see cause for hope – when everything seems to
be pointing to gloom and doom ? Catherine Rambert has the answers. (2009)
Catherine Rambert is a journalist, and editor in chief of a major television magazine, Télé Star. She has also written La Fête des
maires, published by Lattès, Femmes d’influences, published by Hachette/Carrère, and has penned her first novel Impostures sur papier
glacé, published by Éditions n°1 in 2007.
84
HENRI BRUNEL
LES PLUS BEAUX CONTES ZEN – The Most Beautiful Zen Stories
These three volumes of Zen tales, stories and anecdotes offer a wide range of
traditional material from Japan, China, Tibet, and India. A few of these pieces
are new accounts of parables by Zen masters, but they are mostly based on oral
traditions that go back to early Buddhist sources.
Varying in length from half a page to half a dozen pages, these 70 delightful
short stories, have at least one thing in common : they are all designed to break
ordinary expectations, to surprise and charm the reader into fresh ways of
thinking – whether they transport us to a world of animals who think and speak
like scheming humans, a romantic realm of heroes and princesses, or the downto-earth everyday life of monks, beggars, robbers, courtesans, and greedy nobles.
Also exists in an illustrated version (2002)
Foreign Sales : Diogenes (German), La Campana (Catalan), Sic ! Publishers (Polish),
Pro Print Publishers (Romanian), Ripol Classic (Russian), Garamond (Czech).
November 2001 – Tales
EAN : 9782702132524
CONTE DU CHAT MAÎTRE ZEN – The Tale of the Zen Master Cat
Entrusted to a Zen leader, Koyabashi the cat, an old tomcat all covered with
scars, has dedicated his youth to learning and serving. As he became a leader
himself, he carried on with his spiritual quest travelling the length and
breadth of Japan, accompanied by his only disciple, a little monk cat, naive
and a bit undisciplined. Wandering from temple to temple, the two pilgrims
discover all the different stages of Zen wisdom.
Thus the story of their trip is both a tale in which you can find all the
qualities (especially the sense of humour and poetry) that made Les Plus beaux
contes zen a success and a real introduction to the key concepts of Buddhism :
“the Four Noble Truths”, “the Noble Eightfold Path”, “the Six
Perfections”… These teachings have never been presented in such a brilliant
and lively way.
September 2004 – Album
EAN : 9782702134177
Thanks to Christian Roux‟s numerous illustrations, inspired by Henri
Brunel‟s text, The Tale of the Zen Master Cat will delight the eye and the mind
of the readers of all ages.
Foreign Sales : Soshi-Sha (Japanese), Eurasian Press (Complex Chinese), Sic ! Publishers (Polish),
DTV (German), Solbaram Publishers (Korean), Garamond (Czech).
French Sale : Paperback (Points Seuil).
Calmann-Lévy also published Henri Brunel‟s Humour zen (2003) and L‟Année zen (2003).
85
We are represented exclusively by the following agents :
- GERMAN :
Liepman Agentur
Ms. Eva Koralnik
Englishviertelstrasse 59
8032 Zürich - SWITZERLAND
Tél : 41 43 268 23 80 / Fax : 41 43 268 23 81
[email protected]
- GREEK :
Ms. Niki Dougé
4 rue Jeanne d‟Arc
75013 Paris - FRANCE
Tél : 33 1 45 86 07 48
[email protected]
- ITALIAN :
Luigi Bernabò & Associates
Mr. Luigi Bernabò
Via Cernaia 4
20121 Milano - ITALY
Tél : 39 02 45 47 37 00 / Fax : 39 02 45 47 35 77
[email protected]
- SPANISH & PORTUGUESE :
AMV Agencia Literaria
Mr. Eduardo Melon Vallat
Maldonadas 9, 2° Dcha
28005 Madrid - SPAIN
Tél : 34 91 365 25 16 / Fax : 34 91 364 07 00
[email protected]
Translations : Heather Allen
Cover illustration : Cédric Scandella

Barbara Constantine - Calmann-Lévy

Transcription

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