what is this new novel by Marc Levy?

Each literary season sees award-winning writers and the essential figures of best-sellers clash. If the last Goncourt price, Houris by Kamel Daoud, or the new novel by Gaël Faye, Jacarandadominate the rankings, Marc Levy maintains his rank among the most read writers.

With The Bookstore of Banned Bookspublished by Robert Laffont on November 19, he offers a novel with an evocative title, in a global context where literary censorship is gaining ground: Millennium or Game of Thrones have just joined the 4,500 books banned in Florida, a few weeks after the re-election of Donald Trump.

Between censorship and hope

In this 26th novel, Marc Levy tells the story of Mitch, a passionate bookseller who is arrested for selling banned books. After five years in prison, he aspires to regain his freedom and reopen his bookstore. But destiny complicates his path: the same day, he meets the prosecutor who convicted him and meets Anna, a young chef with a strong temperament. Mitch finds himself faced with a dilemma: give in to his desire for revenge or let himself be carried away by a new promise of love.

This story, carried by the author's famous fluid and accessible writing, combines the realism of a society prey to censorship and the magic of human relationships. Behind this romance, Levy explores the universal question of freedom of expression and the role of books as a bulwark against oppression.

Writing against obscurantism

The Frenchman does not hesitate to anchor his writing in current issues. “My novels are often born from a presentimenthe recently shared with West France. For me, writing means listening to social issues. And of course I feel this permanent attack on culture: it terrifies ultra-conservatives and autocrats. »

Despite this dark backdrop, Levy remains faithful to his credo of offering luminous stories. “I believe that there is a form of pretension in painting despair just to paint despair without ever thinking about solutions”he adds.

A read for everyone

With The Bookstore of Banned BooksMarc Levy signs a novel where cultural resistance takes on universal accents. Through Mitch and Anna, he invites his readers to reflect on the issues of freedom, while reminding them that literature can be a breath of fresh air in the face of oppression. This story adopts a more engaged tone, testifying to a lesser known side of the author.

To go deeper, the interview with Marc Levy in The Original Soundtrack on France Inter, broadcast on November 22, offers the opportunity to discover this work and its writer who, beneath the apparent lightness of his stories, takes a committed look at freedom of expression and the excesses of contemporary societies.