Description
Book SynopsisJerome is a calm man - at least, that's what he'd always believed. But when his daughter's boyfriend dies in an accident, he is overwhelmed by unexpected grief. As he struggles to make sense of the loss and his own reaction to it, he finds himself assailed by emotions and memories he has allowed to lie dormant: the residual feelings for his ex-wife; a baffling new attraction to a stranger; a precarious friendship with a retired policeman; and, above all, unsettling questions about his own past and the family he never knew. In returning to the forests of his childhood and the darkest nights of the second world war, Jerome gradually, painfully begins to piece together the truth of his own origins and the tragedy that his adoptive parents tried to bury.
Trade ReviewThe Foundling has enough plot to count as a page-turner, yet it still surprises with occasional profundities... Desarthe's portrayal of a young woman devastated by grief is potent... translator Adriana Hunter's rendering of the prose is flawless -- Arifa Akbar * Independent *
A superb study of grief that is both personal and national; a heartbreaking twist reveals the unspoken origin of Jerome's first name in a country full of buried tragedies. Brilliant and devastating -- Kate Saunders * The Times *
Desarthe's novel asks how adults and children alike survive emotional pain - through forgetting or remembering? A dream-like book -- Adrian Turpin * Financial Times *
An intriguing and charming novel, caught somewhere between real life and waking dream. Bewitching * Elle *
This sensitively translated novel is an insightful portrayal of emotional reawakening... incisive, lyrical and gently humorous -- Natasha Blumenthal * Jewish Quarterly *
A complex story of how random events can bring powerful change into a seemingly settled life, launching it in unexpected new directions... the book reads elegantly and seamlessly... deserves to be successful -- Tom Cunliffe * A Common Reader blog *
Desarthe's quirky French bestseller is conceived in hazy, impressionistic prose that occasionally feels like one is reading through a fine mist, but it captures the ennui of the featureless country town -- Alfred Hickling * Guardian *
One of the marvels of the literary season * Version Femina *
At the same time sombre and luminous, disturbing and soothing, Desarthe's latest novel surprises and enchants. A magnificent tale * Page *
In the moments when Jerome claws into the soil with his bare hands, digging for his identity, you can understand The Foundling's success in France -- Ben Felsenburg * Metro *
Desarthe charms with her delicate dissection of the human heart -- Emma Hagestadt * Independent *
