« Receiving the Castel Prize is great, reacted the author. It’s a reward that goes straight to my heart. Tonight, the night is a novel. What more could you ask for? »
The novel, which has sold nearly 14,000 copies according to Gfk, takes the reader into a new investigation of Bmore, the hero of Heart does not give inhis previous novel (Flammarion, 2022). Immersing himself in the life and work of Monet, Bmore soon sees his intuition confirmed: beneath the peaceful surface of the pond lies a veritable mass grave. The year in which Monet began to paint the large panels constitutes a first clue: 1914, the beginnings of the great butchery which would bury nine million lives. “What Monet painted between 1914 and 1918 is the time of war and it is war made time. »
A multi-award winning author
It is also the mourning of his first son, Jean, who died in February 1914. A mourning which had taken him away from the brushes, which he took back in hand at the start of hostilities, no longer simple tools of the artist but weapons of war. “The day France entered the war against Germany, I suddenly imagine Monet writing in his diary: “Today, water lilies.” »muses the author, in reference to Journal by Kafka, in which the latter noted on August 2, 1914: “Germany has declared war on Russia. Afternoon swimming pool. »
Grégoire Bouillier was born in 1960. He is the author of Rapport sur moi (Allia, Prix de Flore 2002), The Mystery Guest, Cap Canaveral (Allia, 2004 and 2008), File M, Book 1 and 2 (Flammarion 2017 and 2018, December prize), and Heart does not give in (Flammarion, 2022, André Malraux prize and Honoré de Balzac prize).
The Castel prize is worth 5,000 euros and the winner will be given a personalized bookplate. He will also hold a membership card of the institution for one year and a plaque will be placed in his name on the library.
The Castel Prize jury is made up ofEmma Becker, Claire Berest, Vincent Darré, Etienne Gernelle, Eva Ionesco, Marc Lambron, Justine Levy, Jean-Noël Pancrazi, Abnousse Shalmani et Gaël Tchakaloff.
Last year, Arthur Dreyfus was rewarded for his novel The Third Handpublished by POL
