Moon in a Dead Eye - Pascal Garnier - Guest Book Review

Published by Gallic Books

Translated by Emily Boyce

Synopsis

Given the choice, Martial would never have bought a home in Les Conviviales.  But Odette's heart was set on this new retirement village in the Midi. 

At first the move feels like a terrible mistake: they're the sole residents and it rains non-stop.  Then three neighbours arrive, the sun comes out and life becomes far more agreeable..

Until some gypsies set up camp just outside their gated community...

Guest review by Janice Lazell-Wood

A rich and darkly humoured tale, and one that I enjoyed immensely.  Five characters come together in a retirement community, two couples and one single lady who has been left her house as a gift. The community sounds idyllic, it boasts activities, year round sunshine and a pool. However, the stark truth is, it's raining, there are no activities and the only water in the pool is rainwater. 

Living their lives under the watchful eye of sinister and gossipy Monsieur Flesh, the caretaker, our five characters, Martial and Odette, Maxime (with his ill fitting dentures) and Marlène, and single lady Léa forge friendships and start to make the most of things, until resentments are inevitably stirred up, past histories revealed and truths told...

The dialogue is snappy and very well translated from the original French, there is humour, horror, irony, sadness and a page turning desire to find out where the story is going.  Highly recommended, and if this story is anything to go by, I will be looking to read more of Monsieur Garnier's novels.

My thanks goes to Lindsay forgiving me the chance to review this novel.

Many thanks to Janice for reading and reviewing this novel for The Little Reader Library.

The People in the Photo - Hélène Gestern

'Sometimes I wonder what 'truth' it is we're chasing after exactly, and what kind of state it will leave us in if we find it.'

Hélène Hivert is an archivist in Paris. She places a newspaper advertisement with a photograph, asking for information about the people in it. One of them is her mother, Nathalie, and then there are two men in the photography with her. It was taken in 1971 at a tennis tournament in Interlaken. Hélène's mother died when she was only three years old. She receives a response from Stéphane, informing her that his father Pierre was one of the two men in the photograph. Stéphane is Swiss, a biologist currently living in Kent, England. 

After his initial response, further correspondence is undertaken between the two, and they reveal memories and gaps in their pasts to each other, increasingly able to confide in each other. They uncover more about their pasts and those of their parents. But it remains to be seen whether the things they discover will help or hurt them, bring them relief and understanding or pain and sadness; either way, the revelations will affect and change their lives:

'...I'm aware that digging up the past is risky. Who knows what secrets they were trying to protect us from and at what cost?'

Hélène's father disclosed little about her mother, and she was raised by a loving stepmother too. After her father's death she found the photograph of her mother with the two men, and decided to now try and find out more about Nathalie. Some of the pair's relatives have passed away, so they must look harder sometimes if they are to continue the search for the truth that has been hidden in history.

I loved this book. Once I started reading, I was captivated by the story, I cared about the characters and I didn't want to stop reading until I'd finished it. The narrative is told predominantly through the exchanges between Hélène and Stéphane via the content of their letters, emails and text messages. It was incredibly moving to be an observer of their exchanges, reading how their connection to each other developed and evolved as they corresponded, and to notice the similarities in some of the feelings and emotions they had experienced in their lives:

'I too feel that inner emptiness, which you describe so poignantly. And, as I grow older, I find it increasingly hard to bear.'

There is a very understandable need to find answers, to discover their real background, so that they might feel a truer sense of themselves too:

'You told me you found it difficult to come to terms with your background. As for me, I've been plagued by anxiety my whole life. My mind is filled with images I can't explain, scenes of catastrophe and things falling apart. I have rarely been able to shake this sense of anguish, even at what should have been the happiest times of my life.'

This aspect in particular really appealed to me; who doesn't wonder about those parts of their past and their family's past that they know little of, and if this relates to a parent, even more so. 

Another part to the narrative, interspered amongst the correspondence, are descriptions of further old photographs; these are uncovered as the story progresses, and each sheds light on another aspect of the past. Each is beautifully described by the author, so that without having them in front of us, it is almost as if we do, and we can picture them in our minds eye. 

The People in the Photo is a wonderful, emotional and very moving read, definitely a keeper for me, and a book I'd love to read again. I do like epistolary novels and this form works very well here, brought up to date by the use of email and text. There are themes of love and friendship, identity and memory, confronting and dealing with the past, and finding forgiveness. There's always a sense of intrigue and wonder when we look at old photographs of people and this novel captures this and delivers a great story via this starting point. One of my favourite reads so far this year. Beautifully written and translated, I loved the structure and the way the story was told, so I'd certainly recommend this novel. I hope there will be more novels from this author.


I was kindly sent a review copy of this novel - this is my honest review.

Published by Gallic Books | twitter @gallicbooks
Translated from the French by Emily Boyce and Ros Schwartz

The President's Hat - Antoine Laurain

'This is no ordinary hat.'

Translated from the French by Gallic Books (Jane Aitken, Emily Boyce, Louise Rogers Lalaurie)

It is November 1986 and accountant Daniel Mercier is dining out alone at a brasserie in Paris whilst his wife and son are away. What was a very pleasant evening becomes even more special as he is stunned to notice that none other than President Francois Mitterand sits down at the table next to him. His evening is transformed as he listens to the conversation at the President's table, and then, when he leaves, Daniel realises that Mitterand has left his hat behind. Pondering for a moment, Daniel takes the hat with him, and after making this split-second decision and putting the hat on his head, his life is never quite the same. 

On the back of this new and quite unexpected acquisition, Daniel suddenly develops a newfound confidence at work, sharing his views and finding the courage to stand up for himself: 'With unprecedented confidence, he watched himself negotiate the complex layers of diplomacy with the ease of a dolphin leaping through the waves.' ....'It was as if the real Daniel Mercier had finally stepped out into the light of day.'

Daniel believes that the changes within himself, the decisions he is making and the confidence he now has is due to just one thing: 'The hat. It was the hat that was responsible for the events that had turned Daniel's existence on its head in the last few days. He was convinced of that. Since he had taken to wearing it, the hat had conferred on him a kind of immunity to the torments of everyday life just be being there. Better still, it sharpened his mind and spurred him to take vitally important decisions.' Can a hat really have these magical, transformative qualities? What has made things so different for Daniel since his possession of it? What is it about the hat that affects 'a profound change...a metamorphosis' on the wearer? And what will happen next to the hat? 

This is an absolutely delightful, warm-hearted and magical tale about life and fate. I loved reading it!  Antoine Laurain has created a very special, mystical and entertaining story here that reveals truths about human nature in a clever way that made me smile and ponder as I read. Love, families, relationships, careers - the hat has a hand in the destiny of so many facets of people's lives in the story.

I don't want to reveal too much about the path that the story takes, except to say that the hat will transform more lives than just Daniel's, and that the story links together well as it develops and then it all comes back together very satisfyingly at the end. We are taken back to the 1980s and there is a some comment on the times then in France which I found interesting, alongside the step back in time to a place when technology was much more basic than that which we have today. 

The translation, with three authors taking on the different main characters, worked really well too. It's a really nice edition, with a lovely design and feel to the covers.

All in all, a real treat of a book and a joy to read.

Published by Gallic Books

Thank you to the publisher for kindly sending a copy of this novel to read and review.

You can follow @gallicbooks on twitter and find out more about this novel on their website here and on the book's website here.