A great Jane Austen love story , a punchy novel about mother-daughter relationships, the sequel to the adventures of The Spy of Tangier ... There's plenty to occupy your sunny days. The literary nuggets of the moment, it's here that it happens.
The addictive spy novel
The good book: Sira, the return to Tangier by Marí a Duenas .
The pitch. Ten years have passed since Sira's last adventures. We are in 1945 and the former seamstress turned spy is finally ready to embrace a peaceful existence with her husband Marcus, an English diplomat. Forced to flee Jerusalem following a bombing, Sira reinvents herself in England . She accepts an assignment for Her Majesty's Secret Service and adopts a new identity, that of Livia Nash, a journalist for the Latin American branch of the BBC . From Madrid to Tangier via London and Jerusalem, the young woman is quickly caught up in her past, whose long-forgotten ghosts she encounters. It all began in Tangier, a luminous and enigmatic city, and it is here, surrounded by her family, that Sira will finally be able to find peace.
For who ? Fans of spy novels who have not lost sight of Sira Quiroga, the unforgettable heroine of The Spy of Tangier , adapted as a series in 2013. María Duenas is one of the best-selling and appreciated authors in Spain and Latin America and for good reason, she has a knack for telling stories so disturbing that we want them to be real. The author has the art and the way of portraying endearing characters and of infiltrating an aristocratic society in a dark era of which we would like to know the smallest details. We cry, we shudder, we are enthusiastic with them and it is with regret that we leave this universe by turning the last page.
Austenian historical romance
The good book: Le Parfum des embruns by Laurence Pinatel .
The pitch. Biarritz , the sound of the surf, wild coast, summer 1910... the scene is set. Éléonore has everything of the modern woman. Recently divorced and at the head of her own fashion house , she shines with her talent and her quest for freedom. Grigori, a young engaged Russian aristocrat, was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and never misses an opportunity to let it be known. When the two protagonists meet, despite the world that separates them, the desire is immediate. While the First World War rumbles in the distance, a bond is woven between them, which will undermine all of Eléonore's certainties. Laurence Pinatel signs her first novel, that of a great love story to the tunes of Jane Austen who, from the Basque coast to Saint Petersburg , paints the portrait of a free woman.
For who ? Unconditional fans of Emily Brontë and all those who are tired of reading and rereading Belle du Seigneur in the hope of a romance. From the first pages, we happily rediscover the atmosphere of the film Coco avant Chanel by Anne Fontaine : the young designer, her doubts and her quest for modernity in this pre-war period which did not however lend itself to it. If the plot and the characters of the novel are camped quite quickly, the real pleasure lies in the descriptions, between Biarritz and Saint-Petersburg, of a distant era. The author finds the perfect balance between poetic description and piquant dialogues, French frivolity and Russian austerity, duty and desire, freedom and totalitarianism and above all between the male yoke and the beginnings of female emancipation .
The fiction that talks about the toxicity of family ties
The good book: We were fish by Nathalie Kuperman .
The pitch. " Dad, does he know? Leave your father where he is. He would take a dim view of me making you miss the last few days of school. He would lecture me, and lecture me, I don't like that. " Indeed, Agathe's mother does not like morality, nor normality, nor any rule that would push her to behave like a maternal figure. That summer, Agathe spends it on a beach on the Côte d'Azur waiting for the love of a mother whose crazy eccentricity worries her. From the height of her 11 years, the little girl feels violently projected towards an adult world to which she does not want to belong. A terrible danger is brewing and her mother seems to be trying to prepare her to face it. Until the final clap.
For who ? The pitch surely leaves speechless or in a certain hesitation. And yet, Nathalie Kuperman ( I'm the kind of girl ) has the art and the way to approach heavy subjects delicately and with just enough lightness not to rush. This powerful tale is that of Agathe who, years after that sunny summer, unravels the thread of her memories and discovers the truth about her mother. Nathalie Kuperman signs the moving story of this strong bond, which oscillates dangerously between benevolence and toxicity. While one is in search of a semblance of maternal love, the other is trying to learn to love properly. Shocking!
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