The Birthday Party -- Laurent Mauvignier, Paperback

New York Times Editors' Choice

"A real-time study in crippling self-consciousness, the fragility of normalcy, and the reality of violence."--The New York Times

Buried deep in rural France, little remains of the isolated hamlet of the Three Lone Girls, save a few houses and a curiously assembled quartet: Patrice Bergogne, inheritor of his family's farm; his wife, Marion; their daughter, Ida; and their neighbor, Christine, an artist. While Patrice plans a surprise for his wife's fortieth birthday, inexplicable events start to disrupt the hamlet's quiet existence: anonymous, menacing letters, an unfamiliar
car rolling up the driveway. And as night falls, strangers stalk the houses, unleashing
a nightmarish chain of events.

Told in rhythmic, propulsive prose that weaves seamlessly from one consciousness to the next over the course of a day, Laurent Mauvignier's The Birthday Party is a deft unraveling of the stories we hide from others and from ourselves, a gripping tale of the violent irruptions of the past into the present, written by a major contemporary French writer.

Author: Laurent Mauvignier
Publisher: Transit Books
Published: 02/07/2023
Pages: 454
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.20w x 1.30d
ISBN: 9781945492655

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 10/03/2022
Kirkus Reviews 12/01/2022