“Deeply moving.” — Victoire Lemoigne, Le Figaro

A much-needed novel about maternal love and resilience.

Éli, Isabelle’s son, is severely autistic. Being Éli’s mother gives Isabelle no break, she is constantly on the lookout. She has to avoid any sensory overload, a female voices over the loudspeakers for example, to plan holidays at the chalet when there’s roadworks in their street, check the batteries in the smoke detector every month because Éli mutilates himself when there is sudden noises.

So, Isabelle is a mother first and always, to the point of forgetting herself as a woman and neglecting her love life. Until the day when the unthinkable becomes necessary: for his and her safety, he has to be hospitalised and then placed in a care institution. Isabelle will have to relearn how to live on her own while sorting out her contradictory feelings, convinced that she has abandoned her son.