Heiress Francesca and bookseller Ivan don't expect to make a profit when they open a bookstore in Paris that sells nothing but the best fiction. The store's unexpected success produces a powerful backlash: an outcry from pundits, negative ad campaigns, targeted competition, and threats that escalate to physical violence. When members of the store's secret inventory selection committee are attacked, barely escaping with their lives, it becomes imperative for the owners to find out who is behind the intimidation. With this work, French novelist Cossé (A Corner of the Veil) gives readers a truly literary thriller. Eminently readable, it is a love letter to the novel (literature junkies will find within its pages a seemingly endless supply of book suggestions) and a profound exploration of human nature.
VERDICT: If the success of Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog, also translated by Andersen, is any indication, this work will be in high demand.
