The Woman of Valencia
Original title: La femme de Valence
- 2 Seas Represents:Dutch and Nordic Countries rights.
- Rights sold: France (Le Nouvel Attila), English NA (Qc Fiction/Baraka Books)
- Finalist of the Prix des Rendez-vous du premier roman – Lectures plurielles
LITERARY FICTION
Spain: summer of 2009. For Claire Halde and her family, it holds the promise of a relaxing vacation: three days in Valencia during a dry summer; a hotel with a swimming pool to escape the stifling heat.
But every trip has its complications; the sky can’t always be blue. A distraught woman makes her way to the roof-terrace of the Valencia Palace Hotel, hands her purse to Claire, and then vanishes into thin air.
The vacation gives way to the story of three women whose lives are rocked by a single tragic act. One woman is a ghost, whose body plunges into the void. The second chases breathlessly after her mother. And then there is Claire, adrift in a sea of fog after letting a woman die.
A novel of hope showing the interconnectedness of our mortal lives, La femme de Valence deftly challenges readers to explore issues of empathy, indifference and love.