The Silent Season

Original title: La saison du silence

Author: Mathot, Claire

Publication Date:

January 2025

Pages:

176

Original language and publisher

French | Actes Sud

Territories Handled

Netherlands, North America, Scandinavia

Genre

Debut Novel

The Silent Season

Original title: La saison du silence

Author: Mathot, Claire

Synopsis

“’It is night, a hibernating bear’s night. Everything is muffled, the darkness sticks to the ground.’ A novel that begins with this sentence, so vivid, so true, is likely to offer us many more pleasures. And Claire Mathot does not disappoint.” — Jean-Claude Vantro, LE SOIR

In C…, a little village perched on a hill, the inhabitants are dreading the arrival of deep winter. In a few days, they will be cut off from the world, but it is the sudden return of a traveller after three decades away that is arousing the greatest concern. For in this community where everyone is defined exclusively by their occupation and defends it jealousy, nobody – not the Barmaid, the Gravedigger, the Potter, the Smuggler nor the Writer – is under any illusion as to what this means: someone will have to stand down, and their position will be up for grabs. Woe betide the loser.

In an unspecified future with medieval undertones, Claire Mathot serves up a fascinating tale about our increasing inability to appreciate and understand other people and other places, as well as the irresistible lure of freedom.