$17.99
A fierce and poetic debut on surviving the wilderness of family life
At home there are four bedrooms: one for her, one for her little brother Sam, one for her parents, and one for the carcasses. Her father is a big-game hunter, a powerful predator, and her mother is submissive to her violent husband’s demands. The young narrator spends the days with Sam, playing in the shells of cars dumped for scrap and listening out for the melody of the ice-cream truck, until a brutal accident shatters their world. The uncompromising pen of Adeline Dieudonné wields flashes of brilliance as she brings her characters to life in a world that is both dark and sensual. This breathtaking debut is a sharp and funny coming-of-age tale in which reality and fantasy collide.
Translator | |
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Genre | |
Pages | 266 |
Paperback ISBN | 978-1-64286-047-4 |
Ebook ISBN | 978-1-64286-054-2 |
Region | |
Publication date | February 4, 2020 |
Price | $17.99 |
Adeline Dieudonné was born in 1982 and lives in Brussels. A playwright and short-story writer, her first novella, Amarula, was awarded… Read more
“Dieudonné’s startling debut tackles dark themes with grace, wit, and sincerity. A deeply disturbing, furiously tender, and darkly comedic debut.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Transforming the traditional coming-of-age novel, Adeline Dieudonné’s successful first work is a captivating, unnerving take on emancipation and the hope of escaping violence.”
—France-Amérique
“While this is a story about vulnerability and the victims of domestic abuse, it is also a story of courage. Dieudonné’s debut novel, translated terrifically by Roland Glasser is, at once, fearsome and with heart.” —Brigid O’Dea, Irish Times
“A magnificent heroine of freedom and intelligence” —BRUNO CORTY, Le Figaro
“Bitter, raw and fast-paced: a tale that’s filled with a hunger for life” —ALAIN LORFÉVRE, La Libre Belgique
“I’m still kind of in shock, but I wanted to write a few lines while it’s fresh. The book starts off innocently enough, then gathers momentum slowly. An abusive father, a nonexistent mother, a childhood trauma, a brother who seems to be slipping into sociopathy. It put me in mind of a child’s rollercoaster ride, where there are twists and turns but no real danger. However, the last chapter or so of this little book is a stomach-dropping, death-defying ride straight off of a cliff. But, like an amusement-park ride, you are left laughing at the end. The heroine of this book may be one of the best-developed characters I’ve ever read.” —ANGEL, Sunrise Bookshop
“A sense of rhythm, hard-hitting words, and vitriolic humor”
—COLINE SERREAU, director of Chaos
“This story is inevitably touching and disturbing, since it meticulously displays the mechanisms of physical and moral domestic violence through a cruel, perverse and violent father. The author’s style is slick, poetic, metaphoric, beautiful and brutal at once, much like life can be, too.” —Light and Smell Blog