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French Corner
"One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories." --The Guardian
A tense, unforgettable Inspector Maigret mystery from Georges Simenon "He recalled his travelling companion's agitated sleep--was it really sleep?--his sighs, and his sobbing. Then the two dangling legs, the patent-leather shoes and hand-knitted socks . . . An insipid face. Glazed eyes. And Maigret was not surprised to see a grey beard eating into his cheeks." A distressed passenger leaps off a night train and vanishes into the woods. Maigret, on his way to a well-earned break in the Dordogne, is soon plunged into the pursuit of a madman, hiding amongst the seemingly respectable citizens of Bergerac.
A tense, unforgettable Inspector Maigret mystery from Georges Simenon "He recalled his travelling companion's agitated sleep--was it really sleep?--his sighs, and his sobbing. Then the two dangling legs, the patent-leather shoes and hand-knitted socks . . . An insipid face. Glazed eyes. And Maigret was not surprised to see a grey beard eating into his cheeks." A distressed passenger leaps off a night train and vanishes into the woods. Maigret, on his way to a well-earned break in the Dordogne, is soon plunged into the pursuit of a madman, hiding amongst the seemingly respectable citizens of Bergerac.
"One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories." --The Guardian
Maigret stumbles upon a series of murders in Fontenay-le-Comte while visiting an old school friend
On his way home from a conference, Maigret stops to visit an old school friend in Fontenay-le-Comte. A man in the same train car introduces himself and asks if Maigret has come to help solve the murder case. In fact, the man's brother-in-law had been murdered four days earlier, followed by the murder of a local widow in the same way, a blow to the head with a pipe. While Maigret is in town, a third murder is reported. Maigret soon discovers that there are two warring factions in the town, a clear class separation, and an air of suspicion that only he can put to rest.
Maigret stumbles upon a series of murders in Fontenay-le-Comte while visiting an old school friend
On his way home from a conference, Maigret stops to visit an old school friend in Fontenay-le-Comte. A man in the same train car introduces himself and asks if Maigret has come to help solve the murder case. In fact, the man's brother-in-law had been murdered four days earlier, followed by the murder of a local widow in the same way, a blow to the head with a pipe. While Maigret is in town, a third murder is reported. Maigret soon discovers that there are two warring factions in the town, a clear class separation, and an air of suspicion that only he can put to rest.
"One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories." --The Guardian
In this Georges Simenon classic, a Dutch clerk flees to Paris with his crooked boss's money and meets the woman behind the man "A certain furtive, almost shameful emotion . . . disturbed him whenever he saw a train go by, a night train especially, its blinds drawn down on the mystery of its passengers." Kees Popinga is a respectable Dutch citizen and family man--until the day he discovers his boss has bankrupted the shipping firm he works for, and something snaps. Kees used to watch the trains go by on their way to exciting destinations. Now, on some dark impulse, he boards one at random, and begins a new life of recklessness and violence. The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By is a chilling portrayal of a man who breaks from society and goes on the run asks who we are, and what we are capable of.
In this Georges Simenon classic, a Dutch clerk flees to Paris with his crooked boss's money and meets the woman behind the man "A certain furtive, almost shameful emotion . . . disturbed him whenever he saw a train go by, a night train especially, its blinds drawn down on the mystery of its passengers." Kees Popinga is a respectable Dutch citizen and family man--until the day he discovers his boss has bankrupted the shipping firm he works for, and something snaps. Kees used to watch the trains go by on their way to exciting destinations. Now, on some dark impulse, he boards one at random, and begins a new life of recklessness and violence. The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By is a chilling portrayal of a man who breaks from society and goes on the run asks who we are, and what we are capable of.
Gritty from east to west, Marseille is the perfect venue for the latest in Akashic's venerable Noir series. While earlier entries in this 70-volume series have sometimes been bleak and atmospheric, this one is all red meat....Just as Marseille is tailor-made for noir, this dark banquet is tailor-made for noir fans.
--Kirkus Reviews The stories...are united by vivid and evocative writing, as well as by a distinctive take on the city. Another strong entry in a series that should be required reading for crime fans.
--Booklist This entry in Akashic's noir series navigates the seedy side of Marseille with 14 stories that range from the creepily introspective to the downright brutal.
--Publishers Weekly Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each story is set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book. The Akashic Noir Series first ventured into France with Paris Noir, and now moves one step deeper... Featuring brand-new stories translated from French by David Ball and Nicole Ball: François Beaune, Philippe Carrese, Patrick Coulomb, Cédric Fabre, René Frégni, Christian Garcin, Salim Hatubou, Rebecca Lighieri, Emmanuel Loi, Marie Neuser, Pia Petersen, Serge Scotto, Minna Sif, and François Thomazeau. Cet ouvrage publié dans le cadre du programme d'aide à la publication bénéficie du soutien du Ministèe des Affaires Etrangères et du Service Culturel de l'Ambassade de France représenté aux Etats-Unis.
This work, published as part of a program of aid for publication, received support from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Cultural Service of the French Embassy in the United States.
--Kirkus Reviews The stories...are united by vivid and evocative writing, as well as by a distinctive take on the city. Another strong entry in a series that should be required reading for crime fans.
--Booklist This entry in Akashic's noir series navigates the seedy side of Marseille with 14 stories that range from the creepily introspective to the downright brutal.
--Publishers Weekly Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each story is set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book. The Akashic Noir Series first ventured into France with Paris Noir, and now moves one step deeper... Featuring brand-new stories translated from French by David Ball and Nicole Ball: François Beaune, Philippe Carrese, Patrick Coulomb, Cédric Fabre, René Frégni, Christian Garcin, Salim Hatubou, Rebecca Lighieri, Emmanuel Loi, Marie Neuser, Pia Petersen, Serge Scotto, Minna Sif, and François Thomazeau. Cet ouvrage publié dans le cadre du programme d'aide à la publication bénéficie du soutien du Ministèe des Affaires Etrangères et du Service Culturel de l'Ambassade de France représenté aux Etats-Unis.
This work, published as part of a program of aid for publication, received support from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Cultural Service of the French Embassy in the United States.
This tale of the Holocaust "will make many think of the stories of Ernest Hemingway . . . a reminder of the power a short, perfect work of fiction can wield" (The Wall Street Journal). This timeless short novel begins one morning in the dead of winter, during the darkest years of World War II, with three German soldiers heading out into the frozen Polish countryside. They have been charged by their commanders with tracking down and bringing back for execution "one of them"--a Jew. Having flushed out a young man hiding in the woods, they decide to rest in an abandoned house before continuing their journey back to the camp. As they prepare food, they are joined by a passing Pole whose virulent anti-Semitism adds tension to an already charged atmosphere. Before long, the group's sympathies begin to splinter when each man is forced to confront his own conscience as the moral implications of their murderous mission become clear. Described by Ian McEwan as "sparse, beautiful and shocking," A Meal in Winter is a "stark and profound" work by a Booker Prize-nominated author (The New York Times). "Sustains tension until the very last page." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review
An amnesic searches for his identity, from Polynesia to Rome, in this novel by master storyteller Patrick Modiano: winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
Guy Roland is in pursuit of the identity he lost in the murky days of the Paris Occupation. For ten years, he has lived without a past. His current life and name were given to him by his recently retired boss, Hutte, who welcomed him, a onetime client, into his detective agency. Guy makes full use of Hutte's files--directories, yearbooks, and papers of all kinds going back half a century--but his leads are few. Could he really be the person in that photograph, a young man remembered by some as a South American attaché? Or was he someone else, perhaps the disappeared scion of a prominent local family? He interviews strangers and is tantalized by half-clues until, at last, he grasps a thread that leads him through the maze of his own repressed experience. Published in France as Rue des Boutiques obscures this is both a detective mystery and a haunting meditation on the nature of the self, Patrick Modiano's spare, hypnotic prose, superbly translated by Daniel Weissbort, draws readers into the intoxication of a rare literary experience.
"One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories." --The Guardian
An Inspector Maigret mystery and a gripping tale of lost identity "A man picked up for wandering in obvious distress among the cars and buses on the Grands Boulevards. Questioned in French, he remains mute . . . A madman? In Maigret's office, he is searched. His suit is new, his underwear is new, his shoes are new. All identifying labels have been removed. No identification papers. No wallet. Five crisp thousand-franc bills have been slipped into one of his pockets." A distressed man is found wandering the streets of Paris, with no memory of who he is or how he got there. The answers lead Maigret to a small harbour town, whose quiet citizens conceal a poisonous malice.
An Inspector Maigret mystery and a gripping tale of lost identity "A man picked up for wandering in obvious distress among the cars and buses on the Grands Boulevards. Questioned in French, he remains mute . . . A madman? In Maigret's office, he is searched. His suit is new, his underwear is new, his shoes are new. All identifying labels have been removed. No identification papers. No wallet. Five crisp thousand-franc bills have been slipped into one of his pockets." A distressed man is found wandering the streets of Paris, with no memory of who he is or how he got there. The answers lead Maigret to a small harbour town, whose quiet citizens conceal a poisonous malice.
Wine expert Benjamin Cooker travels to the French capital, where his is called to help care for some vineyards in Montmartre, a neighborhood full of memories for him. He stops in on an old friend. Arthur Solacroup left the Foreign Legion to open a wine shop good enough to be in the Cooker Guide. But an attempted murder brings the past back into the present. But which past? The winemaker detective and his assistant Virgile want to know more, and their investigation leads them from the the sands of Djibouti to the vineyards of Côte du Rhône.
Mr. Hulot is back in this wordless picture book celebrating the comical misadventures of a day at the beach! Created and played by French comic actor and filmmaker Jacques Tati, Mr. Hulot is a beloved character in France. David Merveille's meticulously designed comic strip style illustrations capture the imagination and good nature of Mr. Hulot as he navigates the hilarity of a missing shoe, a disgruntled fisHermann, a mistaken pipe, and more. Like Merveille's earlier book, Hello, Mr. Hulot, Mr. Hulot at the Beach is a visual treat and a true delight to the observant viewer.