LITMIR.BIZ

The international publishing sensation, with sales of over 10 million copies worldwide Rene is the concierge of a grand Parisian apartment building. She maintains a carefully constructed persona as someone uncultivated but reliable, in keeping with what she feels a concierge should be. But beneath this facade lies the real Rene: passionate about culture and the arts, and more knowledgeable in many ways than her employers with their outwardly successful but emotionally void lives. Down in her lodge, apart from weekly visits by her one friend Manuela, Rene lives with only her cat for company. Meanwhile, several floors up, twelve-year-old Paloma Josse is determined to avoid the pampered and vacuous future laid out for her, and decides to end her life on her thirteenth birthday. But unknown to them both, the sudden death of one of their privileged neighbours will dramatically alter their lives forever. Reviews ‘Resistance is futile … you might as well buy it before someone recommends it for your book group. Its charm will make you say yes’  The Guardian ‘Clever, informative and moving … this is an admirable novel which deserves as wide a readership here as it had in France.’  The Observer ‘The novel wins over its fans with a life-affirming message, a generous portion of heart and Barbery’s frequently wicked sense of humor’  Time Magazine ‘A book of great charm and grace.’  The Metro ‘The book’s attractive, Amélie-esque Parisian setting and cast of eccentrics will appeal to many’  Sunday Telegraph ‘This breathtakingly singular novel … is totally French yet completely universal’  Good Housekeeping ‘Reveals itself as a version of the Cinderella fairytale’  Financial Times

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‘Captivating and perversely delightful.’ The Wall Street Journal In this gripping imagining of the last hours of President Gaddafi, Yasmina Khadra provides us with fascinating insight into the mind of one of the most complex and controversial figures of recent history. ‘People say I am a megalomaniac. It is not true. I am an exceptional being, providence incarnate, envied by the gods, able to make a faith of his cause.’October 2011. In the dying days of the Libyan civil war, Muammar Gaddafi is hiding out in his home town of Sirte along with his closest advisors. They await a convoy that will take them south, away from encroaching rebel forces and NATO aerial attacks. The mood is sombre. In what will be his final night, Gaddafi reflects on an extraordinary life, whilst still raging against the West, his fellow Arab nations and the ingratitude of the Libyan people. Reviews ‘Captivating and perversely delightful.’  The Wall Street Journal ‘Khadra has a good sense of pace: the leader’s thoughts turn over at the right speed.’  London Review of Books ‘World-class’ Rosie Goldsmith,  The Independent ‘Mesmerizing’  The New Yorker ‘Packs a devastating punch’  Shortlist ‘Compulsive, funny, powerfully emotional..sinuously intelligent. Khadra’s perceptive and confident novel, translated from French by Julian Evans, is an unmissable entertainment.’  Guardian ‘Bold, often mischievous… A wonderfully entertaining read – as commanding and schizophrenic as the psychopath who ‘speaks’ its words.’  The Big Issue ‘Effortless first-person reimagining of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s final hours’  Library Journal ‘In this closed-door drama, which reads almost like a piece of theatre, Yasmina Khadra gets inside the mind of a tyrant awaiting the fatal bullet.’  Le Point ‘The ability of the author to infiltrate the mind and personality of Gaddafi is uncanny. It is very well written and compelling.’ D.Olser, NetGalley reviewer‘A skilled storyteller working at the height of his powers.’  TLS ‘Khadra brings us deep into the hearts and minds of people living in unspeakable mental anguish.’  L A Times ‘I loved the idea of this book and it was fascinating to read about Col. Gadaffi in a fictionalised setting.’ Sarah S., NetGalley reviewer

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At the age of 83, retired butcher George Nicoleau is about to set off on the greatest adventure of his life. George and his neighbour Charles have long dreamt of a road trip, driving the 3500 kilometres that make up the stages of the Tour de France. And now that George's over-protective daughter has gone to South America, it's time to seize the moment. But just when he feels free of family ties, George's granddaughter Adèle starts calling him from London, and he finds himself promising to text her as he travels around France, although he doesn't even know how to use a mobile. George is plagued by doubts, health worries and an indifference to modern technology. And yet – might the journey still prove to be everything he had hoped for?

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Why would anyone strangle a humble seamstress with no known enemies?When newly-married bookseller Victor Legris is asked to solve the murder of Louise Fontaine in the abattoir district of La Villette, he is initially baffled by the case. But as the investigation progresses, Victor, along with his assistant and brother-in-law Joseph, discovers that in belle-époque Paris young girls with no money or background are as ruthlessly preyed on as ever they were …

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Death is Simon's business. And now the ageing vermin exterminator is preparing to die. But he still has one last job down on the coast and he needs a driver. Bernard is twenty-one. He can drive and he's never seen the sea. He can't pass up the chance to chauffeur for Simon, whatever his mother may say. As the unlikely pair set off on their journey, Bernard soon finds that Simon's definition of vermin is broader than he'd expected…Veering from the hilarious to the horrific, this offbeat story from master stylist, Pascal Garnier, is at heart an affecting study of human frailty.

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Fabien and Sylvie had both known their marriage was no longer working. And yet when Sylvie is involved in a fatal car accident, her husband is stunned to discover that she had a lover who died alongside her. With thoughts of revenge on his mind, Fabien decides to find out about the lover's widow, Martine, first by stalking her, then by breaking into her home. He really needs to get Martine on her own. But she never goes anywhere without her formidable best friend, Madeleine…

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It is 1919. On a summer's night in Normandy, a new-born baby is left in a basket outside the home of Albert and Jeanne Arnaud. The childless couple take the foundling in, name him Jean, and decide to raise him as their own, though his parentage remains a mystery. Though Jean's life is never dull, he grows up knowing little of what lies beyond his local area. Until the day he sets off on his bicycle to discover the world, and encounters a Europe on the threshold of interesting times…

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Before Françoise Sagan the literary icon there was Françoise Quoirez, an eighteen-year-old Parisian girl, who wrote a novel and needed a publisher for it. This intimate narrative charts the months in 1954 leading up to the publication of the legendary Bonjour Tristesse. We encounter Françoise, her family and friends close-up, in a post-war world that is changing radically; and Mlle Quoirez, in her new guise of Françoise Sagan, will be at the heart of that social change.Sagan was always focused on her writing, though at times the fame of her books was to be eclipsed by her wild-child reputation.Yet, as Anne Berest herself testifies, Sagan’s fearless approach to life lived on her own terms remains an inspiration even now.

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When the body of a Scotsman turns up on board a Channel Tunnel train at the Gare du Nord, Parisian detective Roland Desfeuill&ères finds himself in charge of a murder investigation. Roland decides to travel to London -and not just in order to progress the inquiry. It's also a chance to escape his troubled marriage. Arriving in a city gripped by the financial crisis, Roland immerses himself in the victim's hedonistic lifestyle, as he searches for the motive behind the crime. But the longer he walks in the dead man's shoes, the more Roland discovers about himself . . .

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A tense, original New York-based thriller from one of France’s foremost crime writers. 8.34am. Fourteen people were dead. Twenty-one were wounded, some permanently. Hundreds would be scarred forever by what they had seen. Outside, the world was waking up. To start another day. When Lieutenant Lamar Gallineo of the 13th Precinct is called to the scene of a massacre at a high school in Harlem, he is faced with an apparently motiveless crime. But this is to be only the first school shooting…

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