This is the 5th and final selection of our Heroine Grand Prix, which will be awarded in May at the Hotel Raphael in Paris.
French novel. Who lives?By Valerie Zenati
The author: Valerie Zenati is a novelist, translator of Aaron Appelfeld, and children’s writerA bottle at sea in Gaza. Who lives? It is his eighth novel.
The book. Matilda, a history teacher, faced with the world’s violence, decides to go to Israel, unsure of what she will find. The novel was written before October 7 and Gaza, but as is often the case with great novels, there is a form of foreboding, here it would be describing landscapes, women and men of good will, listening to music, sometimes laughing, before the chaos. CS:
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Organic/experiments. A week of silenceBy Florence Besson
The author: Florence Besson is a journalist, her first novel, Landingwas a hymn to nature, and silence inspires this new story.
The book. After a stroke, an “unfortunate accident”, as he writes, he decides to recharge his batteries, to get away from the world’s fury and enormous dullness. He will spend a week in silence with the Jesuits on the seashore, and he testifies day by day. There is wonder, doubt, questions, meals, swimming, and a repair path to face the world again. BB:
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Comics/Graphic Novels. The non-drinkable onesJulia Wertz
The author: Born in San Francisco and based in Brooklyn, Julia Wertz is a star of American independent comics, author of the fabulous Entrailles de New York, among others.
The book. After a jeep accident in the jungles of Puerto Rico on her 30th birthday, Julia Wertz retraces the path that led her from alcoholism to sobriety between withdrawal treatment and a toxic love affair. All of this is told with dazzling wit and deadpan humor that blends tragedy and comedy. MTH:
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Foreign novel. Go where the river takes you By Shelly Rudd
The author: Shelley Reed lives in Colorado and has taught literature, writing, and environmental studies at Gunnison University for thirty years.
The book. 17-year-old Victoria Nash runs the family farm in Iola, Colorado. When she falls in love, she doesn’t know that her life will change forever, for better and for worse… A saga carried by the heroine, who fights against both the elements and the society around her, against the backdrop of landscapes. of the American West. MTH:
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Source: Le Figaro
