Winner of the Prix Renaudot, this literary novel about a murder straddles the line between the tragic and the absurd-- from the author of the plays "Art" and "God of Carnage"
Winner of the Prix Renaudot Shortlisted for the Prix Goncourt
Elisabeth is a woman whose curiosity and passion far exceed the borders of her quiet middle-class life. She befriends a neighbor, organizes a small dinner party. And then, quite suddenly, finds herself embarked with him on an adventure that is one part vaudeville and one part high tragedy. A quiet novel of manners turns into a police procedural thriller. Her motivations for risking everything she has are never transparent. In a world where matters of life and death are nearly always transported to a clinical setting, whether it be a hospital or a courtroom, here each character must confront them unassisted. A truly original and masterful novel from one of the world’s most inventive and daring artists.
YASMIANA REZA is a novelist and playwright. Her plays Conversations After a Burial, The Unexpected Man, Art, Life x 3, and God of Carnage have all been multi-award-winning critical and popular international successes, translated into more than thirty-five languages. Art was the first non-English language play to win the American Tony Award. God of Carnage, which also won a Tony Award, was adapted for film in 2012 by Roman Polanski. Her novels include Anne-Marie the Beauty (Seven Stories, 2021), Babylon (Seven Stories, 2018), which won the Prix Renaudot and was shortlisted for the Prix Goncourt, Desolation, and Adam Haberberg. She lives in Paris.