In France, nearly 37,000 new works were published in France (according to figures reported by the National Publishing Union, in 2023). The September literary season, for its part, attracted more than 300 French novels and nearly of 500 books. A flood of works, each more promising than the last.
Choosing is then a strong decision, almost heartbreaking. Because to choose is to renounce, as André Gide pointed out. So, to give you a boost, let us present our ten favorite titles of the moment, as well as a multitude of other tracks to cling to to feed your thirst for discovery.
“Men lack courage”, the difficult parent/child relationship
We owe this work with its strong title, apparently divisive, to the journalist Mathieu Palain. He is the author of several works in which violence is shown or hidden, through the daily lives of anonymous people. “Our fathers, our brothers, our friends… in the heads of violent men”, his previous book, showed that violence has no age, skin color or social class and that it is, everywhere, omnipresent. Mathieu Palain, explorer of reality, once again delivers a punchy book, with realistic and incisive writing. It can be read in one go, grabs us and leaves us breathless.
It talks about Jessie, an idle mother, at odds with her 15-year-old son. The two of them can no longer communicate. Until Marco disappeared for three days and then called her, asking her to come get him. Jessie then understands that Marco has done the worst… which brings back memories of his own past. That night marks the beginning of an exchange that will change their relationship forever.
“After her”, the voice of the voiceless
We are now moving to the other side of the spectrum of violence, precisely, with the poignant work of Ariane Bois, After her. A book that grabs your guts and that you don’t want to put down at all. It tells the story of the shift in the daily life of an uneventful family, with Bruno – a loving husband, an exemplary father – towards the horror of femicide.
The author places herself on the side of the invisible victims of these tragedies: loved ones and in particular children, by giving them a voice. How can you believe in goodness, love or life when tragedy strikes and you’re just a teenager? How do you rebuild yourself when you are eight years old and witness the scene? Ariane Bois takes us on a journey from which we do not emerge unscathed, through endearing characters and impactful writing.
“The invisible Mrs. Orwell”, literary heroine
Author Anna Funder delves into the pages of her literary hero, author George Orwell. At the turn of a tiny footnote, she discovers in one of the works devoted to her the existence of Orwell’s wife. She quickly realizes that she is constantly erased from all the biographies dedicated to the author of the dystopian work 1984.
Anna Funder’s book builds on this echo. On the one hand: the literary investigation of its author, who tells in the present how she became interested in the subject of the book and carried out her research. On the other: its heroine, the literary genius Eileen O’Shaughenessy, who helped make George Orwell the myth he became. A woman who really existed and to whom Anna Funder gives her full place thanks to fluid writing and a few letters transcribed in this striking and fascinating portrait!
Find part of the selection, in video:
“Liberty is a distant island”, an ode to freedom
What if we went to the Caribbean now? In 1834, more precisely! With the book “Freedom is a distant island”, by Eleanor Shearer. In this book, we follow Rachel, who lives on a plantation in Barbados at the exact moment when the abolition of slavery is pronounced, on July 31, for the British colonies, where 80% of the population is then reduced in slavery. However, in Barbados, nothing really changes. The slaves, now free, still owe nearly six years of work to their now employers. An eternity for Rachel and a clicking moment.
Determined, she is ready to risk her life to escape and regain the freedom of which she has been deprived for so long. As well as his five children, all of whom were taken from him. This is the debut novel by author Eleanor Shearer, who conducted research by traveling to St. Lucia and Barbados to interview family members, activists and historians. It is a poetic and immersive book that invites us to keep hope and to conquer and reconquer our precious freedom!
In addition to these works, discover these additional reading ideas, of all kinds:
Photo credit: J’ai Lu
The Supreme Gift, by Paulo Coelho / I Read
The writer with 320 million copies sold, returns with an initiatory journey towards love. This free adaptation of the writings of the young Henry Drummond, upon his return from Africa, offers a range of ingredients that make us happy: generosity or even tolerance, to incorporate them into one’s life and to tend towards a form of plenitude for ourselves.
Photo credit: Vuibert
Sleep better thanks to the secrets of great athletes / Ed. Vuibert
Did you know that Cristiano Ronaldo had a sleep coach? Or that LeBron James needs to sleep 11 hours when Tiger Woods is happy with 4 to 5 hours per night to be in shape? So many different sleep strategies among great athletes which give food for thought and to better understand our sleep, to better regulate ourselves and be in shape.
Photo credit: Denoël
The Midnight Con, Denoël edition
Max, star host of the 1990s on Fun Radio, gives way once a week to Gérard. The man is 36 years old and homeless. His frankness and his “street” language are pleasing. Very quickly, his meeting attracted thousands of listeners. The book by journalist Thibault Raisse paints a portrait of this character who left his mark on radio in those years, for better and for worse.
The Last Match by Marie Vareille, Charleston edition
This captivating book recounts a turning point in the life of Abigaëlle, who has lived in a convent for more than twenty years. She has given up on her past, which she has partly forgotten. From afar, she observes her brother’s brilliant career as an artist. Until the day he meets a young woman. Abigaëlle trembles. Only she knows who he really is…
The great book of NLP, Eyrolles editions
This educational work, written by psychoanalyst Catherine Cudicio, allows you to approach neurolinguistic programming through a range of tools. These constitute keys to analyzing our behaviors or even our subjective experiences, drawing on our internal processes. The goal? Be more in tune with yourself and “reprogram” yourself, according to your own resources. And through dozens of memo sheets and exercises.
“Grandeur d’âne”, by Amit Weisberger, Velvet editions
Alex Taparakanyan is an engineer. Overnight, he decides to trade his car for a donkey, named Plato. This, to go on an adventure… from Normandy to Lozère. The father is soon joined by his son. The book retraces the epic journey of this father/son duo between city and countryside, and of their companion. The story is told in two voices. One of them is Alex’s. The other is embodied by the donkey, Plato, who philosophizes – one would have suspected – on this journey.
