Dear lovers of literature, 

We are delighted to present our selection of recent translations from French. This summer, we will have two loves: books and Paris. To start, we will talk about books, which – if it was still necessary to convince you – we will not get rid of that easily. We will then go on a tour of Paris, the Paris of yesteryear and that of today, from the 18th century to the present, and Paris of the future as well, the city of immigrants and retirees. But mostly, it will be your Paris, the city of your summer!

To start, we highly recommend that you follow the digressive and extremely entertaining conversation between Umberto Eco and Jean-Claude Carrière, who use the possibility of the extinction of printed books as a pretext to hold a discussion about the internet as a second chance for forgotten writers.
Stimulating and erudite, this essay, both dialectic and fascinating, also explains why "it took chickens a century to learn not to cross the road" or how "our knowledge of the past is derived from idiots, fools or adversaries"!
(This is Not the End of the Book, by Jean-Claude Carrière & Umberto Eco, translated by Polly McLean, Harvill Secker, 5 May 2011).
Read a review / To find out more

The book is not dead, then, but neither is the French language. Marc Fumaroli, a brilliant essayist, sketches for us 26 individual or collective portraits of the 18th century, assembling a gallery of cosmopolitan and glamorous people who adopted French as a means of communication, and with great effect – as we can see from the extracts included in the book.
This account, both erudite and whimsical, will bring you back to a scintillating period of the past... and make you long for a time you have never known. 
(When the World Spoke French, by Marc Fumaroli, translated by Richard Howard, New York Review Books - NYRB Classics, 14 June 2011) 
Read a review / To find out more

We now move forward in time, from the 18th century to the end of the 20th with stories about survival in modern corporate culture… 

It is time for Mohamed to retire after forty years of hard labor, a reality that he cannot accept, and build a better relationship with his children, whom he does not understand. Tahar Ben Jelloun depicts time's hasty flight from the perspective of an immigrant, uprooted and confused, whose mind he analyzes with wonderful insight. Loneliness, empathy, dreams of happiness, love, and stages of life - all thoughts and themes that Ben Jelloun gently glides over, through the perspective of an everyman whose account is both single and universal.
(A Palace in the Old Village, by Tahar Ben Jelloun, translated by Linda Coverdale, Penguin, 25 January 2011 (US) / Arcadia Books, 3 March 2011 (UK)) 
Read a review / To find out more

Travelling from a palace in the old village to a subway station in the bustle of Paris, we now meet Thibault and Mathilde, the heroes of Delphine de Vigan's new novel, who are worn out by life and distressed by the city. Delphine de Vigan's novel is a masterful and moving description of the fragility of human beings, and of all the little details that make up the silent clockwork of life.
This is a truly engaging read, for fans of No and Me, or those who have not yet had the chance to experience the wonderful writing of De Vigan.
(Underground Time, by Delphine de Vigan, translated by George Miller, Bloomsbury Publishing 4 avril 2011 (UK) / Bloomsbury USA, 22 November 2011 (US)) 
Read a review / To find out more

Paris and its flurry of activity also plays a large role in Tristan Garcia's ambitious first novel, Hate: a Romance, which explores the city in the years of the AIDS epidemic, from the eighties to the noughties, through four interwoven narratives. 
A chronicle of our times, a multilayered look on three decades of social life and ideological whirlwinds, this polyphonic novel depicts an interesting facet of Paris, focussing on several key themes: AIDS, intellectuals, homosexuality, and, beneath all of that, the death of utopias and the harsh adaptation of the left to the reality principle. This masterly novel, full of depth and dynamism, is a worthwhile read, and well worth our (impatient) wait. 
(Hate: A romance by Tristan Garcia, translated by Marion Duvert and Lorin Stein, Faber and Faber, 26 October 2010 (US), 3 February 2011(UK)) 
Read a review / To find out more

If you prefer private woes to public grievances, leave the 80s behind and pick up Philippe Claudel's Monsieur Linh and His Child, a poignant tale of trauma and guilt, about the unlikely friendship between two strangers who do not understand each other. This is a conversation between two cultures, a rare book, full of restraint and kindness, by a French author that is much admired and beloved by British readers. 
(Monsieur Linh and His Child, by Philippe Claudel, translated by Euan Cameron, MacLehose Press, 31 mars 2011)
Read a review / To find out more

Menace also abounds in Fred Vargas's eleventh novel, An Uncertain Place, in which Paris shares the limelight with London and Serbia. Once again, Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg and his colleague Commandant Danglard find themselves at the heart of an intricate case, full of false trails and strange characters. 
Vargas, the master of crime fiction, strikes again, and with this fast-paced story full of twists and turns, she does not disappoint. We dare you to read it in the Highgate Cemetery... 
(An Uncertain Place, by Fred Vargas, translated by Siân Reynolds, Harvill Secker, 2011) 
Read a review / To find out more

If you want to leave the crime-filled streets of Paris and London and make an escape to Tours and its bucolic landscapes with the flick of a page, all you need to do is open Anna Gavalda's new book, French Leave (Breaking Away). Three siblings get away from a very conventional wedding to meet up with their youngest brother, who lives in a castle in central France. 
Gavalda has a wonderful sense of rhythm and gives us a novel that is inspired, sprightly and funny. This is a touching tale about the depth of familial relationships, written with a light touch, that will make you wish you had a château to escape to... 
(French Leave / Breaking Away by Anna Gavalda, translated by Alison Anderson, Europa Editions 26 April 2011 (US) / Gallic Books, 1 July 2011 (UK)) 
To find out more

Now we leave France behind and turn to Africa, where according to legend, all human beings have an animal double. Inspired by this story, Alain Mabanckou weaves a tale about an uncommon porcupine who is the animal double of Kibandi, a sorcerer whose thirst for blood touches anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path... 
Alain Mabanckou is back with a tale that takes us at the heart of Africa's folk traditions and shows us its enigmatic side. Magical realism and violence create a disquieting but thoroughly enjoyable atmosphere, and fans of the humor in Broken Glass (which was awarded numerous prizes) will find satisfaction in this Renaudot Prize-winning book.
(Memoirs of a Porcupine, by Alain Mabanckou, translated by Helen Stevenson, Serpent's Tail, 5 May 2011)
To find out more

Bonne lecture!

Hélène Fiamma, Joséphine Seblon and Justine Goy