Breaking free of conformity, a woman leaves her husband, flat and career for a new, queer life: first part of an autofictional trilogy; the prequel in fact to last year's Love Me Tender.
Five stories - from a young artist and a deserting soldier to an old man reminiscing beneath a lime tree - all interwoven by the common threads of war, memory and German history.
As a war photographer and his driver travel through Germany in late 1945, it becomes apparent that they have different reasons for wanting to be there.
Hugely successful in France, this autobiographical novel moves from the author's happy childhood in Algeria to Paris, where she navigates her own sexuality and the tensions of existing betwe... read more