Secret - Softcover

Grimbert, Philippe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1846270448 ISBN 13: 9781846270444

Publisher: Granta Books, 2012

Synopsis

'The day after I turned fifteen, I finally discovered what I'd always known ...' Growing up in post-war Paris as the sickly only child of glamorous, athletic parents, the narrator invents a make-believe brother - older, stronger, and more brilliant than he can ever be. It is only when the boy begins talking to an old family friend that he comes to realize that his imaginary sibling had a real predecessor: a half-brother whose death in the concentration camps is part of a buried family secret that he was intended never to unearth. This book will appeal to readers of literary survival memoirs. It is a winner of both of France's most trustworthy literary prizes - those voted for by ordinary readers: the Prix des Lectrices d'Elle and the Prix Goncourt des Lyceens. A film version was directed by Claude (Class Trip) Miller, starring Ludivine Sagnier and Julie Depardieu, and rights in the book have been sold into a number of other countries.

About this title

Review:

`With devastating simplicity Grimbert drip-feeds the revelations which eventually amount to the real - surprising - family history'
-- Argus (Brighton), Anne Hill

Synopsis:

This is a strong B-format paperback package - designed to appeal to readers of literary survival memoirs. It is a winner of both of France's most trustworthy literary prizes - those voted for by ordinary readers: the Prix des Lectrices d'Elle and the Prix Goncourt des Lyceens. The film is directed by Claude "Class Trip" Miller and starring Ludivine Sagnier and Julie Depardieu premiered in Cannes and should be on general release in 2008. The rights are already sold into ten other languages: Germany (Suhrkamp), Italy (Bompiani), Japan (Shinchosha), Spain (Tusquets), Netherlands (De Geus), Greece (Plethron), Israel (Matar), Korea (Prunsoop), Taiwan (Ten Points), Romania (Trei)."The day after I turned fifteen, I finally discovered what I'd always known..."Growing up in post-war Paris the sickly only child of glamorous, athletic parents, the narrator invents for himself a make-believe brother - older, stronger, and more brilliant than he can ever be.

It is only when the boy begins talking to an old family friend that he comes to realise that his imaginary sibling had a real predecessor: a half-brother whose death in the concentration camps is part of a buried family secret that he was intended never to unearth.

About this edition

• Publisher: Granta Books
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1846270448
• ISBN 13: 9781846270444
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 162