Literary novelties. Spotlight on six books written by authors from Toulouse

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Toulouse writers, as we know, are prolific and, from thrillers to personal stories to novels, they cover a wide range of subjects.

“The sound of our lost footsteps”, by Benoît Séverac

Benoît Séverac builds a remarkable work of coherence and quality. His latest book, “The Sound of Our Lost Footsteps” is his 19^e novel, the fifth published by La Manufacture de livres (284 pages, €18.90).

There we find Cérisol and her teammates, whom we met in the excellent “Kill the Son” in 2020. Cérisol sees a young woman with a strong character arrive, just out of the police academy – be careful, that going to get moving at the SRPJ in Versailles! Especially as the cases pile up and, the icing on the Cérisol, his wife, who has gone to Japan for a disabled sports competition, is absent… All these investigations allow Séverac to develop his talent as a storyteller and observer of everyday life (notably that, oh so difficult, of the cops) and to sign a dark novel mastered from start to finish.

“A Wild Woman”, by Pascal Dessaint

Another specialist in the noir novel, Pascal Dessaint, makes his comeback, just a few months after having delivered with “Misfortune takes its time” (La Déviation, 164 pages, €12) 22 short stories doped with dark humor and biting comments on the world as it goes. “A Wild Woman” (Salamandre editions, 128 pages, €19) tells us the true story of a woman who lived alone in nature for 15 years. We wander around Dessaint – the book is part of a collection, the aptly named “Walk with” – and we think with him of Victor, Truffaut’s wild child, of Christopher McCandless of “Into the wild”…

In this Cévennes region as beautiful as it is wild, fleeing like this is a sign of revolt, of resistance; we cast off the moorings and ties to civilization. A very beautiful book, nourished by the deep reflections of Dessaint, this lover of nature and life.

More information on the publisher's website.

“Spring will return”, by Nour Malowé

There is a lot of talk about life, even survival, in Nour Malowé's new book, “Spring will return” (Récamier, 280 pages, €20.90). It is July 2021, in Kabul. American troops break camp, the Taliban are at the city gates. Marwa is a surgeon and mother of three children.

How to protect them? How can we ensure that they never know what she herself experienced twenty years ago? Flee ? Where, how, why? Nora Malowé's dazzling writing conveys torrents of poetry and humanity. Powerful and poignant.

“Recovered notebooks of Josée Laval”, by Yves Pourcher

History, which is older, leads us to the “Rediscovered notebooks of Josée Laval”, with the specialist Yves Pourcher as guide (editions du Cerf, 332 pages, €24). Josée de Chambrun is the daughter of Pierre Laval, head of the Vichy government from April 42 to August 44.

These famous notebooks, finally revealed by Pourcher, professor at the IEP of Toulouse, show that “Vichy survived after Vichy. Clandestinely – but richly » The All-Paris Collaboration lost the war but is doing well, thank you for it. Arletty toasts with Coco Chanel; Louise de Vilmorin with Paul Morand. Everyone meets at Josée Laval, including René Bousquet, the organizer of the Rafle du Vél d'Hiv' or Arno Breker, Hitler's sculptor… A first-rate document, perfectly documented and told with such precise writing than alert.

“The silence of the ogres”, by Sandrine Roudeix

Two women, two very talented novelists, turned our end of summer upside down. Sandrine Roudeix, who is also a screenwriter, journalist and photographer, has just published her sixth novel, “Le silence des ogres” (261 pages, €20.50) with Calmann-Levy.

A girl and her father. They haven't spoken to each other for a long time. Much later, when she is 48 years old and falls in love, the past and this terrible “silence” comes back to haunt her. Family abandonment and female emancipation, truth of feelings and homage to these “fatherless girls” are at the heart of this book with poetic writing and original narrative construction. A real favorite.

“Dare to go out and shout”, by Fabienne Périneau

Finally, “Dare to go out and scream” (Récamier editions, 220 pages, €20), the third novel by Fabienne Périneau, is one of those that will haunt you for a long time. “She” is a young actress from Toulouse.

She leaves Toulouse to try, force would be more accurate, her luck in Paris. There, she met Marguerite Duras and created, with Pierre Tabard and Vincent Garanger, the play “Agatha” in 1983. “Agatha, it’s me! » she shouts in Duras' face, convinced that she is too young for the role. Barely 18 years old and “she” is rocking the house in this terribly challenging role. The critics are enchanted. “She” follows Chekov, Brecht and Racine, tours with Sautet, runs TV series… Falls in love with a very famous actor, then with a violent man, mourns her missing twin, flees her toxic siblings… Luminous and overwhelmingly beautiful , this novel stands out as one of the strongest of the literary year.

Yves GABAY

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