The disappearances of (pre)adolescent girls have made headlines in recent months. Predators are on the prowl. But not always. There are also running aways, symptoms of unhappiness to take into account.
This new novel by Muscadier addresses with sensitivity and delicacy these handicaps which arise in late childhood. Nothing beats, most often, fiction to make a (pre) adolescent audience aware of what can happen to certain of their peers.
Zoé, 11 years old, lives in a happy family. No storm comes to disturb it. She is interested in the most handsome boy in her class. Next year is middle school. She is a fan of Vianney. Everything is fine.
That night she wakes up suddenly. She is about to go back to sleep, when she hears her parents talking in the kitchen downstairs with surprising intensity. Approaching discreetly, she overhears their conversation. His mother cries and his father keeps reading and rereading Professor Sfwan's report aloud: “stark choloroid”.
From this barbaric term, she only understands one thing: she will lose her sight within three months.. Going back to her room, she then draws up a list of her wishes in great secrecy: six wishes that she wants to accomplish before losing her sight permanently.
In the four days that follow, she will fulfill the mission she has assigned to herself.. Without saying anything to anyone, she will leave. Her escape, she is aware, will devastate her family with worry. The police will follow her trail, arriving just after she takes the next step.
Time is running out though. Because a corneal transplant is possible, but can only be done in a short time. Zoe doesn't know. The reader is taken into a Marseille road movie. From this initiation rite that she has set for herself, she will emerge grown. But will she come out cured? The reader will discover it for himself.
This article is part of the “Open Book” section
It is signed Jacques Trémintin
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