Claire Norton takes us with her in "The meaning of our steps"

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Today, "Le sens de nos pas" by Claire Norton was published on April 7, 2022 by Éditions Robert Laffont

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by Claire Norton, published on April 7, 2022 by Éditions Robert Laffont.

His favorite quote:

Why this book?

• Because this novel is the story of an encounter

  between Auguste, an 85-year-old man, and a 15-year-old girl, Philomène.

  Auguste sends everything to the dump, without telling his son.

  Between the absence of Jeanne, his deceased wife, the difficult cohabitation with his son and his daughter-in-law, and above all a latest piece of news that calls everything into question, the man decides to leave.

  But he did not imagine getting encumbered in his flight from an unknown young girl.

  And yet, after a meeting in a park, Philomène sees in him the way to escape too.

• Because devastated by the death of her mother, Philomène

  is above all full of questions, and she is looking for answers.

  If he refuses to help the teenager at first, Auguste lets himself be softened by her, and they will be his traveling companion.

  They will tame and adopt each other.

  Together, they will make these few days a real magic, making things possible, releasing the unsaid and the fears.

  Armors break, hearts empty and the will to live grows stronger.

• Because it's a novel that deals with mourning,

  but also with the guilt that those left behind can feel, and the questions that can persist after the loss of those we love.

  It deals with the way we move forward in life, how we can build ourselves when we seem to lack landmarks.

• Because this novel speaks brilliantly and with finesse of old age:

  of passing age, of illness and the difficult question of the end of life.

  The whole is made with a lot of tenderness and kindness.

  
  

The essentials in 2 minutes

The plot.

Auguste has “his” bench, in a pretty park in Le Vésinet.

The one where, so many times, he came to sit with Jeanne, his great love.

Stranded at the other end of the bench, Philomène is just as distraught.

An only child, she has just lost her mother and has cut off all communication with her father.

Characters.

Augustus, 85 years old.

His son Simon and "Cruella" his daughter-in-law.

Philomène, 15 years old and her father Benoit.

The memory of Jeanne and Audrey (deceased), Aurore, a sunny and solitary woman.

Places.

A park.

A car, hotels, a restaurant, a house.

The Amboise region.

The time.

Nowadays and some snippets of memories.

The author.

Mother of three children, Claire Norton continues to reconcile her professional activity in human resources with her passion for writing.

This book was read with

tears.

The story shows a lot of tenderness and benevolence.

Claire Norton gives us a luminous novel, full of hope, the meeting between two unforgettable characters carried by the sensitive pen of an author who upsets me every time.

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• Book sheet 20 Minutes

• Books

• Novel

• Adolescence

• Old age