One of the edgiest novels to come out of Europe in years - not to mention one of the most successful - this thinly veiled roman-à-clef is about the daughter of one of Europe's most famous writers as she navigates life after the collapse of her marriage.
It is a penetrating, sometimes funny, sometimes enraged look at pain in the limelight, where a glamorous, privileged world offers no protection for shattered heroine Louise. Deserted by her famous husband - the man she has loved since they were children - when he falls for a model-turned-rock-star, she is unmoored in a world that suddenly has no
meaning for her. And as her life implodes, one misfortune seems to follow another - her grandmother dies, her mother develops cancer, and always the question, why did Adrien leave?
Based on some of Europe's most glamorous real-life stars - including Bernard-Henri Lévy and Carla Bruni, Mick Jagger's ex - Justine Lévy - captures the world of the "beautiful people" with lacerating relish, as well as humour and a wonderfully poetic eye for detail. In the end, narrator Louise spares no one - and especially not herself - from her ruthless and ultimately energising honesty.
