The Godmother: A Crime Novel - Softcover

Cayre, Hannelore

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1770415432 ISBN 13: 9781770415430

Publisher: ECW Press, 2019

Synopsis

Inspiration for the major motion picture Mama Weed; translated from the international bestseller La Daronne, winner of the European Crime Fiction Prize and the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, France's most prestigious prize for crime fiction

Meet Patience Portefeux, a fifty-three-year-old, underpaid Franco-Arab interpreter for the Ministry of Justice who specializes in phone tapping. Widowed after the sudden death of her husband, Patience is now wedged between university fees for her grown-up daughters and nursing home costs for her aging mother.

Happening upon an especially revealing set of police wiretaps ahead of all other authorities, Patience makes a life-altering decision that sees her intervening in -- and infiltrating -- the machinations of a massive drug deal. She thus embarks on an entirely new career path: Patience becomes The Godmother.

This is not the French idyll of postcards and stock photos. With a gallery of traffickers, dealers, police officers, and politicians, The Godmother casts its sharp and amusing gaze on everyday survival in contemporary France. With an unforgettable woman at its center, Hannelore Cayre's bestselling novel reveals a European criminal underground that has rarely been seen.

About this title

Review:

"Exuberant . . . Maybe crime doesn't pay, but the guile and guts -- and humour -- with which Patience approaches this extreme solution to her desperate situation, right under the noses of law enforcement, is admirable, as are her survival instincts. Readers will be anxious about the fate of the forthright, sympathetic Patience up to the final page. It's no surprise that this novel won the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, France's most prestigious award for crime fiction." --
Publishers Weekly STARRED review

"This book is exuberant and understated all at once; an almost stream-of-consciousness calamity of French darkness and humour, it follows a woman with more practicality than passion who sees the world in myriad fascinating ways. It's thrilling to read a crime novel from the point of view of the Bad Guy (and without the usual prologues and asides of a predator's grim thoughts) . . . Translated with spunk by Stephanie Smee, this is absolute champagne entertainment." -- Readings bookstore

From the Back Cover:

Meet Patience Portefeux, an underpaid fifty-three-year-old Franco-Arab interpreter for the Ministry of Justice who specializes in phone tapping. Widowed after the sudden death of her husband, Patience is now wedged between university fees for her daughters and nursing home costs for her mother. When she happens upon an especially revealing set of police wiretaps ahead of all other authorities, Patience makes a life-altering decision that sets her on an entirely new, illicit career path and sees her become The Godmother.

With its gallery of traffickers, dealers, police officers and politicians, Hannelore Cayre's bestselling novel The Godmother casts a sharp and amusing gaze on everyday survival in contemporary France.

Hannelore Cayre is an award-winning French novelist, screenwriter, director and practicing criminal lawyer. Her works include Legal Aid, Toiles de maître and Comme au cinéma.

After working as a lawyer in Sydney and London, translator Stephanie Smee made her literary debut with an English translation of the Countess of Ségur's Fleurville Trilogy.

About this edition

• Publisher: ECW Press
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1770415432
• ISBN 13: 9781770415430
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192