LACRIMOSA

By Régis Jauffret Translated by Vineet Lal

Dear Charlotte,

You died on a sudden whim from a long illness. Suicide gushed through your brain like an oil spill and you hanged yourself. You had been living in Paris for fourteen years but on 7 June 2007 you took the train to Marseille. As if humans had the memory of an elephant and sometimes returned to dig their grave near the place where, in the past, they'd forced their way out of their mother's womb to set foot in life.


Lacrimosa unfolds through a moving exchange of letters between the narrator and his young lover, Charlotte, who has just committed suicide. Their poignant dialogue makes this epistolary novel a truly carthartic experience.



Born in Marseille in 1955, Régis Jauffret is a mind-blowing author whose books are often described as acerbic and written with a scalpel, stripping life to the bone. He has won many prizes in France and his recent novel Severe, soon to be a film, will be published by Salammbo Press in 2012.


 

Press

“Régis Jauffret has perhaps written his most accomplished novel, a work of of devastating and devastated beauty: an ode to a dead lover.” Le Magazine Littéraire

“Tragic and caustic.” Télérama

“Lacrimosa works like a literary boxing match, a heartbreaking masterpiece where emotion is never far from the absurd.” L’Express

“A savage epistolary dialogue made for a great novel.”
Le Nouvel Observateur

“A merciless tale in which honesty explodes from every page, sometimes to the point of provocation.”
Le Figaro

THERESE AND ISABELLE

By Violette Leduc Translated by Sophie Lewis Postface by Carlo Jansiti

Charged with metaphors, alternating with precise descriptions of sensations and human relationships, 'Thérèse and Isabelle' was censored by its publisher in France in 1954, first published in a truncated version in 1966 and not until 2000 in its uncensored edition, as Violette Leduc intended.

"I'm trying to express as exactly, as minutely as possible the sensations of physical love. There's something here that a woman can understand. I hope this won't appear more scandalous than the thoughts of Molly Bloom at the end of Joyce's Ulysses. Every sincere psychological analysis deserves to be heard, I think."  Violette Leduc  

For the first time in a new English translation, here is the unabridged text of 'Thérèse and Isabelle'.

Admired by Jean Genet, Nathalie Sarraute and Albert Camus, Violette Leduc (1907-1972) was championed by Simone de Beauvoir when she published her scandalous autobiography 'La Batarde' (1964). Like 'Thérèse and Isabelle', many of her audacious novels are largely inspired by her life. Her vibrant and lyrical prose continues to fascinate new generations of writers around the world.

Press

'So here we have extraordinary writing about sex; and, more importantly, about love, and the way it makes us feel.'  Nicholas Lezard, Guardian

'A classy new translation of Leduc's masterpiece on the tyranny of love.' Independent

 
'Reading Leduc is like discovering a whole new nervous system.'  Deborah Levy

'Lesbian story ban is lifted.' Observer

 

'Violette's prose, hirsute and grating as always, throws itself into faces more spiritedly than today's provocateurs, and above all more authentically. The reticence and languor of 'Thérèse and Isabelle' renews an erotic tradition that today has become banal.' Libération

The Universe Explained to my Grandchildren

By Hubert Reeves Translated by Donald Winkler

"Grandpa, how big is the universe? How far are the stars? How can we tell the sun’s age? Are we stardust? What is thunder? Is the universe expanding? Do black holes exist? What is the future of the universe?"

"The book was born from conversations I had with one of my granddaughters, on certain summer evenings. All during its writing, I was able to relive those August evenings when the children showered me with questions while we awaited the shooting stars. The contemplation of the heavenly vault and the sense of our presence among the stars inspired a shared wish to know more about this mysterious cosmos in which we live. Here we will be talking about science, but that in no way rules out poetry."
Hubert Reeves

In this book, master astrophysicist Hubert Reeves unlocks the secrets of the universe. This is his spiritual testament to younger generations and a perfect occasion for us all to revise our conceptions about the cosmos.





Leading international expert in Astronomy and Cosmology, Hubert Reeves is the author of more than 20 influential science books, many of them best sellers.

Press