If you love France, read these books

Happy Bastille Day!

You might have noticed I’ve been AWOL for a while. It’s been a busy old time, what with my book deal and my move back to London just over a year ago and adapting to all that entails. (The hunt for good coffee alone is a full-time job — but so is catching up on all the curry I’ve missed!)

But also, in February, I started a new job. I feel so lucky, because it’s just what I wanted — a job in publishing, marketing books I really believe in. And Gallic Books is an indie publisher I’ve long had my eye on, because they started with a mission to bring the best of French fiction to an English-speaking audience, and that’s still very much a key part of their/our publishing.

I grew up bilingual, with French as my mother tongue, and I’m passionate about the importance of reading beyond the English-speaking world. So what better excuse than Bastille Day for recommending some of my favourites?

(Psst: Gallic Books is actually running a sale in the UK this weekend, with all their their physical books at 20% off.)

Now Let’s Dance by Karine Lambert, translated by Anthea Bell

This is a touching, emotionally resonant book about two widowed older people finding love in their twilight years, with all the complications of that. I loved this one and wish it was better known.

Piglettes by Clémentine Beauvais, translated by the author

It’s rare that a French YA novel gets picked up in the UK and the US, so I was intrigued by this one straight away. Its heroines are voted the ugliest three girls in their school, and they form an unlikely partnership and cycle across France, selling sausages out of a trailer as they go and becoming social media sensations in the process. It’s a bit random, a bit bonkers, and utterly delightful.

The Margot Affair, by Sanaë Lemoine

I’ve been wanting to read this since I first spotted it on the bookshelves at East City Bookshop — it’s the story of the illegitimate daughter of an actress and a politician, who’s a teenager now and sick of living with the secrecy and shame. She takes matters into her own hands, and befriends a journalist — so what, really, could go wrong?! Here’s what the Financial Times says about the book: “Absorbing... The emotional mapping of the novel is intricate and precise... Lemoine captures with painful accuracy the clumsy ignorance of adolescence.”

The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain, transl. Jane Aitken and Emily Boyce

I’d be remiss not to recommend at least one Gallic Book, and this is one of our most successful, perennial bestsellers. Antoine Laurain’s books are unfailingly charming and quirky, and The Red Notebook epitomises that. It’s the story of a bookseller who finds an abandoned handbag and, determined to return it to its owner, scours the contents of a red notebook inside for clues. The Times called this book “the very quintessence of French romance”.

Want more?

More great French books can be found here (US) and here (UK).

Feedback is welcome on the format of this newsletter, and please feel free to comment with the thing you love, so I can recommend relevant books for you!

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