The debut novel of a 25-year-old author, in which the jealousy between two actresses is interwoven with poetry and maturity around the work of Paul Claudel.

“I tremble to have found in the depths of my soul, in all its potential, the same thing that terrified me with Salomé […] In truth, I hated Salomé as much as I could have loved her if she hadn’t hated me first.”

Clara, a promising 24-year-old actress still basking in the innocence of adolescence, finds her life turned upside down when she meets Salomé, her cousin seven years her senior. Salomé invites her to join the troupe she’s working with in Paris, where she’ll play the lead. What seemed like a dream opportunity soon turns into an alienating nightmare.

Behind the scenes of Claudel’s play The Tidings Brought to Mary, the duel between Violaine and Mara extends far beyond the stage. While Clara melts into Violaine’s gentleness, Salomé, in the role of Mara, weaves a web of manipulation where admiration and jealousy intertwine. Little by little, the benefactress becomes a rival, then the executioner. This silent battle threatens to destroy not only Clara’s career, but her very identity. Will her performance as Violaine be her salvation, or the final nail in her coffin?

With a sensitive and poetic pen, Agathe Chenevez offers a fascinating exploration of the mechanisms of jealousy in the hushed world of theater, where light and shadow wage a ceaseless battle.