Admirers of Laurence Boissier can rejoice: her first novel. “London 1:30 p.m.”, forgotten, then found, comes out of the press on January 10. In this short choral novel, the Genevan author, who died in 2022, probes the sensual potential of Geneva airport, the wait, the opportunities to be seized.
Sitting every day at the bar in the “Arrival” hall at Geneva airport, Emilienne tries to overcome the death of her father, one of the passengers on the 1:30 p.m. flight from London which crashed into the English Channel. Around her are busy Hadjira and her cleaning cart, Raoul, the melancholic manager of the airport buildings, and Teodora, a photographer sensitive to the vibrations of the place and the planes.
The meeting of the four characters provokes a dance on the theme of friendship, of intimacy with each of them, underline the Geneva editions “art&fiction” which publish the work.
Laurence Boissier’s first novel, London 1:30 p.m. has long disappeared. Then the manuscript reappeared surreptitiously during storage after the disappearance of its author.
There we find his subtle humor as well as the themes that are dear to him: the play of echoes of personal trajectories, a marked attention to topography, the subtlety in the evocation of human bonds, the absurd importance of routines and the always surprising weight of emptiness.
Swiss Literature Prize
Note that “Laurence Backstage”, a letter to the deceased, written by her friend the author, screenwriter and playwright Antoine Jaccoud, appears simultaneously with the same publisher. It is followed by a portrait by Lisbeth Koutchoumoff Arman.
Died on January 7, 2022 at the age of 56, Laurence Boissier published several stories, including “Projet pour Madame B” (2010), “Noces” (2011) and “Cahier des charges” (2011).
Artist, interior designer and translator, who was also a member of the “Bern ist überall” collective, received the 2017 Swiss Literature Prize for the short story collection “Inventaire des places”. In 2018, the Genevan won the readers’ prize from the city of Lausanne for “Back to school”.
This article was automatically published. Source: ats
