Nicolas Mathieu

From the Prix Goncourt-winning author of And Their Children After Them, a devilishly smart noir novella that finds uncomfortable truths in the everyday about romance, violence, and women's desire and desirability. Nearing fifty, with a divorce and a string of other failed relationships behind her, Rose has given up on the idea of love, if not sex--though that always comes with risks. Determined not to let another man hurt her, she even ordered a .38 caliber handgun after an argument with her latest boyfriend almost turned violent. Now she carries it everywhere, just in case. As if on autopilot, Rose spends her days at work and then at the Royal, a familiar haunt where she knocks back one drink after another, sometimes with her best friend Marie-Jeanne. And then a sudden accident brings Luc into the bar, and Rose decides to give love one last chance.

Det er lenge siden Hélène la bak seg den lille bygda i Øst-Frankrike hvor hun vokste opp. Hun har jobbet hardt for å komme seg opp og fram. Men i en alder av førti år, med karriere, villa, ektemann og to døtre, kjenner hun likevel på en tomhet, som om livet bare suser forbi.Christophe har blitt værende i bygda. Han bor sammen med faren sin og har sønnen hos seg annenhver uke. Etter at industrien i bygda ble lagt ned, er det dårlig med jobbmuligheter. Han lengter tilbake til ungdommen da han var stjerne på hockeylaget og omsvermet av jentene.Sangen vi alle sang er historien om da de to møtes igjen. En varm og melankolsk roman om å finne tilbake til røttene sine, om klassereiser, drømmer som ikke har gått i oppfyllelse, og om lengselen etter å gjenoppleve den sitrende, altoppslukende kjærligheten.

A breathtaking story of unfulfilled dreams, unexpected second chances, and love in a present-day France turning against itself, from the Goncourt Prize-winning author of And Their Children After Them. H l ne is approaching 40. Born in a small town in the east of France, she worked hard to leave it behind and achieve a life worthy of the glossy magazines she pored over as a teen. But now that she seemingly has it all--a husband and two daughters, a successful career, and a custom-designed house near Nancy--she feels unfulfilled, as though the years have passed her by. Christophe just turned 40 and has never left his little corner of France, where he grew up with H l ne. No longer as handsome as he used to be, he's led an unassuming life, preferring to party with friends than to apply himself. These days, he's selling dog food, dreaming of playing hockey again like he did when he was 16, and living with his father and son--a quiet, indecisive existence, which could be seen as failure. And yet he fully believes that anything is still possible. Through the story of how their two disparate lives intersect once more, Connemara beautifully evokes the complex pain and joy of returning to your roots, and trying to make a relationship last in a rapidly changing, increasingly divided country.

The first novel by Goncourt-winning Nicolas Mathieu: a literary crime novel about class, poverty and the criminal underworld.

THE FIRST NOVEL BY NICOLAS MATHIEU, WINNER OF THE 2018 PRIX GONCOURTNicolas Mathieu's gripping first novel is the story of a world that has come to an end. With a girl, a gun and acres of snow.When a factory that employs most of a small town is scheduled to close - to the despair of the workers and disdain of the overlords - things start to fall apart. The disenfranchised factory workers have nothing left to lose. Martel, the trade union rep with innumerable tattoos and Bruce, the body-builder addicted to steroids resort to desperate measures. A bungled kidnapping on the streets of Strasbourg goes horribly wrong and they find themselves falling prey to the machinations of the criminal underworld. "[An] uncompromising portrait of a working class eaten up by the frustration and resentment of having been abandoned, and sinking into alcoholism and racism". -- Paris Match

'[A] page-turner of a novel . . . I couldn't put the book down' - New York Times'A multi-viewpoint panorama of thwarted aspirations, spiced with breathy sex scenes and nostalgic detail.' - Mail on SundayAugust 1992. Fourteen-year-old Anthony and his cousin decide to steal a canoe to fight their all-consuming boredom on a lazy summer afternoon. Their simple act of defiance will lead to Anthony's first love and his first real summer - that one summer that comes to define everything that follows.Over four sultry summers in the 1990s, Anthony and his friends grow up in a France trapped between nostalgia and decline, decency and rage, desperate to escape their small town, the scarred countryside and grey council estates, in search of a more hopeful future.Nicolas Mathieu's eloquent novel gives a pitch-perfect depiction of teenage angst. Winner of the Prix Goncourt, it won praise for its portrayal of people living on the margins and shines a light on the struggles of French society today.'Deeply felt . . . An exceptional portrait of youth' - Irish Times

Named a Best Book of the Year by The Times (UK) and the Los Angeles Public Library Winner of the 2018 Goncourt Prize, this poignant coming-of-age tale captures the distinct feeling of summer in a region left behind by global progress. August 1992. One afternoon during a heatwave in a desolate valley somewhere in eastern France, with its dormant blast furnaces and its lake, fourteen-year-old Anthony and his cousin decide to steal a canoe to explore the famous nude beach across the water. The trip ultimately takes Anthony to his first love and a summer that will determine everything that happens afterward. Nicolas Mathieu conjures up a valley, an era, and the political journey of a young generation that has to forge its own path in a dying world. Four summers and four defining moments, from "Smells Like Teen Spirit" to the 1998 World Cup, encapsulate the hectic lives of the inhabitants of a France far removed from the centers of globalization, torn between decency and rage.