The Breakers

The Breakers

by Claudie Gallay (Author)

Synopsis

In the Contentin peninsula on the northern coast of Brittany, lies a village that to all intents and purposes might just be at the end of the world. Amid this desolation, a stranger appears in the cafe and begins stirring up suspicion about the village's lighthouse keeper, now retired. An old grandmother wanders the beaches, looking for a child named Michel. Meanwhile, a woman arrives from the south. The man of her life has just died and she throws herself into her work, cataloguing her surroundings in obsessive detail. The villagers seem to be guarding old secrets about events in their past. But what actually happened? Who were the victims? Who is seeking answers - and why? This mystery has the force of a Greek tragedy unravelled, as secrets and answers slowly come to light. Set in a vast, empty landscape where the sea endlessly breaks on the rugged shore, The Breakers is as fascinating about the seascape and the birdlife as it is about the inhabitants of the village and the events that unfolded so long ago.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 416
Publisher: MACLEHOSE PRESS
Published: 06 Jan 2011

ISBN 10: 1906694699
ISBN 13: 9781906694692

Media Reviews
'A gem of a book which cracks like a whip, slaps you in the face and ultimately explodes, leaving you stunned and blissful' Francois Busnel, L'Express. 'A beautifully constructed mystery' Livres Hebdo. 'This is a novel strung together from sentences as spare as its geographical background, and a deft translation carries evocative echoes of the French original' Hephzibah Anderson, Daily Mail. 'The unravelling of the mystery at its core is compelling and convincing' Alannah Hopkin, Irish Examiner. 'By drawing on the everyday, the small rituals, the uneasy exchanges, Gallay has written a slow-moving, calm, complicated and compelling novel that balances stagnation and panic, acceptance and denial, all juxtaposed with the way the past insists on shaping the present' Eileen Battersby, Irish Times. 'This is so atmospheric it transports you straight to the storm-lashed fishing village full of strange characters with old gripes still looming over their relations ... it seethes with loss, intrigue and secrets' U Magazine. 'The pace and feel of this French bestseller is as measured and elegiac as its setting, its prose strikingly spare' Telegraph. 'the recursive prose is subtly hypnotic, mimicking the obsessive circularity of mourning and the tendency of insight to be always belated ... the effect is oddly intriguing' Chris Ross, Guardian.
Author Bio
Claudie Gallay is a teacher who lives in Provence. Her previous novels have all been well received, but The Breakers was her breakthrough novel, becoming a runaway bestseller in France. Alison Anderson's translations include Muriel Barbery's bestselling novel The Elegance of the Hedgehog. She is also the author of two novels, Hidden Latitudes and Darwin's Wink. She lives in Switzerland.