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  • Today, "And us at the edge of the world" by Nathalie Sauvagnac, published on May 4, 2022 by Éditions Le Masque.

Cathy Borie, author and contributor to the 20 Minutes

Books reading group

, recommends

And us at the edge of the world

by Nathalie Sauvagnac, published on May 4, 2022 by Éditions Le Masque.

His favorite quote:

I close my eyes.

I'm looking for the right words, so as not to be mistaken.

We don't save people.

We can write them down.

Memories.

Wrap them in paper.


Why this book?

  • Because Nathalie Sauvagnac has a real talent for marrying

    poetry and darkness, despair and light, through characters that are larger than life, shattered but deeply human.

  • Because it's not so often that you cry during a reading,

    and each time it happens to me, the reason is almost always the resonance in me of a universe that speaks to me with familiar words, although I don't know where that familiarity comes from.

  • Because the heroine seemed particularly endearing to me,

    and she alone justifies the title of this novel: a character at the edge of the world, who lacks very little to be able to fly away and soar above this black world where she cannot find her place.

  • Because despite everything, despite the pain, despite the lack of love,

    despite the bad guys all around, Nadine (the narrator) manages to capture and restore tiny moments of perfect happiness, sparks as brief as they are powerful, until the final fireworks that she experiences as dazzling and intense happiness.


The essentials in 2 minutes

The plot.

Nadine, under 20, has been wandering since she was kicked out of her home and lands in a bucolic squat where she settles with two other marginalized but welcoming young people.

A haven of peace at the edge of the world where, however, the latter catches up with them in all its devouring darkness.

Characters.

Nadine, the narrator, raw, crippled by a suffering that we understand over the pages;

Jean-Mi, benevolent and desperate junkie;

Louis, taciturn, lost but full of love for his goats and his dog;

Nono, handsome and ruthless drug dealer.

Places.

An old building on a heavenly hill near a Parisian suburb.

The time.

It is not specified, but according to the musical references and other small details it could be the 1970s or 1980s.

The author.

Nathalie Sauvagnac, writer, theater teacher, director, actress and company director, she is writing her second noir novel here, after

Les yeux fumés

.

This book was read with

total empathy with the narrator, whose emotions echoed in me thanks to the perfectly despised writing and the accuracy of the feelings described, always on the wire between absolute darkness and inextinguishable hope.

And tears also at two or three passages...

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