A fast-paced comic mystery enriched by a deep love for books, this delightful story is set in Crozon, a magical seaside town within the charming coast of Brittany in northwestern France.
With a setting and cast of characters that are quintessentially French, its mysterious plot is full of twists and turns, which keeps the reader guessing till the very end.
Inspired by American writer Richard Brautigan’s quirky love story, The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966, one of his fans creates a “library of rejected books” in the US in the early 1990s.
As a tribute to the deceased author, the library begins accepting the world’s “literary orphans”. In 1992, a librarian in Crozon creates a French version of the world’s homeless manuscripts.
Over the next 10 years, the library receives more than a thousand manuscripts after which its owner dies, leaving an assistant to run it. Kept alive only by word of mouth, the library no longer seems to interest anybody.
Years later, a Parisian editor belonging to Brittany visits her hometown with her failed writer boyfriend. While in Crozon, they visit the library of rejects where amidst a pile of bizarre stories and personal diary entries, they come across a masterpiece.
The book—about a passion that has to end—describes the death of Russian poet, playwright and novelist Alexander Pushkin.
They find that the book’s author is the late Henri Pick, a resident of Crozon where he ran a pizzeria for 40 years.
His 80-year-old wife is surprised that her husband who was not very romantic and never read or wrote could have written this novel in secret.
She does mention, however, that he liked Russia, and even discovers a book on Pushkin in his attic.The unusual book by a dead Breton author who lived an artistic life in almost total secrecy is finally published, and the editor tries to flesh out the “novel behind the novel”.
The book is marketed with the idea that it was perhaps not a rejected book but one never intended for publication. Further, there is no doubt in support of the theory that rejection is no measure of a work’s quality. Pick’s novel releases to media frenzy, and becomes the toast of literary France.
Its popularity leads to a sudden new interest in the quiet, remote town of Crozon. Its visitors increase, and everyone is curious about the dead pizzeria owner.
The library of rejects also gets a new lease of life and suddenly starts receiving many manuscripts. Crozon becomes the capital of France’s unpublished authors.
Some begin to embrace the good fortune of being rejected, and the French Minister of Culture even has the idea of establishing an Unpublished Authors Day.
Along the way, the novel’s success also wreaks havoc in several relationships within the lives of whom it touches. There are also those who believe that Pick could not have written a novel and begin investigating.
Each of the characters in the book is beautifully described and gently woven into the story.
Novelist, screenwriter and musician David Foenkinos is the author of 14 novels that have been translated into 40 languages.
The book’s literary translator Sam Taylor has written four novels, which have been translated into 10 languages, and translated more than 50 books from French.
The book is the first title in a collaboration between global streaming service Walter Presents and Pushkin Press that is translating foreign literature into English.
It is a great example of how “our era is generally on the hunt for the truth behind everything, particularly fiction”. Anyone with a love for books and the literary world will easily resonate with and adore this book.
The mysterious plot is full of twists and turns, which keeps the reader guessing till the very end. Each of the characters is beautifully described and gently woven into the story.
The book is the first title in a collaboration between global streaming service Walter Presents and Pushkin Press that is translating foreign literature into English.