A New Gentle French Thriller from the Author of the 6:41 to Paris

A teacher, nearing retirement, is unexpectedly invited to a party celebrating the art of a former student. Louis Claret is puzzled for the invitation; what could a celebrity like Alexandre Laudin gain by inviting a tired high school instructor who barely remembers Laudin to this showcase for his work? Claret goes, and meets up with Laudin, and somehow finds himself agreeing to pose for his former student. What is this all about?

I love the tension Jean-Philippe Blondel brings to his stories, the uncertainty, the ambiguity inherent in life. Because the author is French, and because I have read and loved his earlier novel, The 6:41 to Paris, I felt confident that the author would lead me again into a place where I could closely see the emotional resonances of the world that we sometimes avoid, and that he did. I loved the genuine feel of the story, the use of nuance, playing with complexities of life, that the author gave me.

Be warned that this story is not for those who like a big American fireworks ending. No, it's just a story of two lives and the ways they intermingle and weave together and grow apart, lives that interconnect with each other and with others, the way people flame and burn out. It's vivid and compelling, and it's beautiful writing.

  

Jean-Philippe Blondel 

on  Tour May 15-28 with

Exposed

Fiction
Release date: June 4, 2019 at New Vessel Press
157  pages
ISBN: 978-1939931672 
Website | Goodreads

SYNOPSIS

A French teacher on the verge of retirement is invited to a glittering opening that showcases the artwork of his former student, who has since become a celebrated painter. This unexpected encounter leads to the older man posing for his portrait. Possibly in the nude. Such personal exposure at close range entails a strange and troubling pact between artist and sitter that prompts both to reevaluate their lives. Blondel, author of the hugely popular novel The 6:41 to Paris, evokes an intimacy of dangerous intensity in a tale marked by profound nostalgia and a reckoning with the past that allows its two characters to move ahead into the future. [provided by the publisher] NB: this is NOT erotica! “Exposed deals with the joys and uncertainties of youth, as well as aging and regret, thwarted friendships and loves, and nostalgia and searching for renewal. It’s beautifully written and sensitively translated from French, highly engaging and accessible to a wide array of readers. It contains no explicit sex or anything that would put off a reader open to the experience of good literature.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Jean-Philippe Blondel was born in 1964 in Troyes, France where he lives as an author and English teacher. His novel The 6:41 to Paris has been acclaimed in both the United States and Europe.

 ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

Alison Anderson is a novelist and translator of literature from French. Among the authors she has translated are JMG Le Clézio, Christian Bobin, Muriel Barbery and Amélie Nothomb. She has lived in Northern California and currently lives in a village in Switzerland.

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GIVEAWAY

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[just follow the directions on the entry-form]

Global giveaway open to all US residents 5 winners

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