Fragments of Life

Fragments of life : a collection of twenty short, independent, snapshot-like texts, which aim to seize and give meaning to the insignificant yet often precious trivia of our daily existence, governed by the passing of time.

Whether describing the irritations of a beach-loathing narrator faced with pervasive grains of sand and the sweltering heat of summer on some shore of Brittany, or just depicting the serenity of an early morning cup of coffee in the stillness of a sleepy old farmhouse, each text calls on the reader’s awareness of a common destiny.

Each tableau alludes to the transient fragility of happiness, echoing back to childhood memories, and, though that may not sound like much, each story actually deals with the meaning of life.

Certainly a profound and heartfelt book that will linger in your mind long after you have read it.

The temptation of the pylon

In a disrupted political situation that has jeopardized democracy and civil liberties, the fight of a man to keep his dignity and remain in control of his own life.

Adrien Mauduit, a teacher, a celebrated writer and a politically committed journalist, gets unexpectedly faced with an illness that brutally shakes up the course of his life.

With no other choice but to escape, he throws in the towel and returns to a little hamlet in Northern inland Brittany where he used to spend his summer holiday at the blessed time of his childhood. 

His decision will signal the beginning of a solitary and desperate quest, haunted by the figures and shady secrets unearthed from the past.

At the crossroads between Adrien’s personal story and History with a capital « H », the second half of the novel will plunge the reader into the ruthless and intricate complexity of WWII.

A summer in Eden

France. The early sixties. The rugged granite shores of northern Brittany, and a small limestone village tucked away within the soft hills of Burgundy: two regions, each one respectively hosting a ten year old boy, Pierre and Gelven, both of them winsome and endearing, yet solitary.

The latter boy has been afflicted by a succession of misfortunes and hardships as he is shuttled from one foster family to another. The former is leading a normal though dramatically lonely existence marked by the inevitable life-long wounds and rifts of childhood.

Through the twists and turns of the story, the boys’ chance encounter during that very special 1964 summer and their ensuing friendship will eventually bring redemption to both of them.

It is an inspiring and gripping novel which explores the subtle and intricate relations that bind a child to the fierce world of adults and it is reminiscent of what is sometimes referred to as an initiation novel (Bildungsroman).  

In the twilight of thorns

Two couples, two parallel stories that speak of the betrayals, failures and rifts of our ordinary lives; two narratives whose intricate architecture mirrors the tragic complexity of human relations. 

When the reality of daily routine shatters the illusion of eternal love, when breaking up has become inevitable, when illness and defeat can no longer be ignored, all that may be left then is the unwavering friendship of Fãnch and Mike, who share a common yearning for poetry, viewing the world through the same perceptive yet disillusioned eye.

From Brussels’ Tour and Taxi Exhibit Hall, to the Croix Rousse neighborhood in Lyon and the rugged beauty of Brittany’s Mont d’Arrée and northern Armorican shores, Fãnch and Mike will embark on an impossible quest for happiness, in a desperate attempt to escape the tragic absurdity of existence.  

Despite it all, literature will have the last say.