An extraordinary tale of a stifled childhood and an unrelenting love of life from the protegee of Simone de Beauvoir.
'Indisputably a brilliant writer'Evening Standard
In a small French town, a young girl grows up under the hard blue gaze of a mother who will not hold her hand. Her only comfort lies in the warmth of her ill grandmother.
Yet the world around her is humming with curiosity. From the obsessive Madame Barbaroux and her endless spring cleaning, to the homeless Monsieur Dezaille and his beloved collection of saucepans, Leduc exposes the eccentricities of provincial life with unflinching candour and striking beauty.
About the Author :
Violette Leduc, a frank depiction of lesbianism, poverty and loneliness, sold over 150,000 copies and nearly won the Prix Goncourt. Leduc died in 1972.
Derek Coltman translated several novels by Violette Leduc into English in the 1960s and 1970s. He also translated The General of the Dead Army by Ismail Kadare, from the French version of the Albanian.
Review :
'Violette Leduc is an exceptional writer, and one of the most extraordinary women ever to have written about herself' TLS
'Indisputably a brilliant writer' Evening Standard
'Like Colette she has a wonderful feeling for all kinds of sensual happiness' Daily Mail
'There are no adjectives for Mlle. Leduc's work, beyond the obvious one, astonishing. To read her is to be astonished by the experience of an enlarged world' New York Times Book Review
'What distinguishes this book, beyond the acuity of the emotion, is the sharpness and closeness of the observation with which the little daughter regards her own town' The Scotsman
'The real strength of the book lies in the atmosphere of sheer ordinariness it manages to evoke' The Observer
