Janine Bailly-Chéneau

16/10/25

What I Know About You (Ce que je sais de toi)

by Éric Chacour

In 1980s Cairo, a young doctor follows a destiny mapped out for him. Between his clinic and the prestigious practice inherited from his father, Tarek has little room to ask questions. But meeting someone who seems worlds apart from him will shake up his marriage, his career and his certainties, leaving him with no choice but exile.
From the Levantine community in Egypt to the winters of Montreal, from the reign of Nasser to the dawn of the 2000s, Tarek flees, wanders and remembers. But does he know that thousands of kilometres away, someone is piecing together the fragments of his story and trying to reconstruct, chapter by chapter, the course of his life?
A tale of absence and reconciliation, Ce que je sais de toi (What I Know About You) delicately, humorously and sensitively paints a portrait of a torn clan and a society in the throes of transformation. Éric Chacour's debut novel reveals an author with a finely crafted language, a brilliant mind and a deep understanding of human nature. A book that smells of garlic, aniseed and family secrets.

(Translated from Babelio)

Awards and distinctions

2024 : Prix Libraires and Prix Libraires en Seine
2025 : Prix Femina des lycéens

28/06/25

Odette Toulemonde et autres histoires

by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt

"Dear Mr Balsan, I never write because, although I can spell, I can't write poetry. But I would need a lot of poetry to tell you how important you are to me. In fact, I owe my life to you. Without you, I would have killed myself twenty times over.
Odette"

Life has given everything to the writer Balthazar Balsan and nothing to Odette Toulemonde. Yet she is the happy one. He is not. Their chance meeting will turn their lives upside down.
Eight stories, eight women, eight love stories. From a small-time shop assistant to an implacable billionaire, from a disillusioned thirty-something to a mysterious barefoot princess, from ambiguous husbands to cowardly lovers and mothers in search of daughters, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt follows a gallery of unforgettable characters in their quest for happiness.

(Translated from Babelio)

Odette Toulemonde et autres histoires ••• Le point de vue de Janine

05/06/25

The Language of Hidden Things (La langue des choses cachées)

by Cécile Coulon

At dusk, a young healer travels to a remote village. His mother always told him, "Never leave any trace of your passage." He always obeys his mother. Except that night.

In this novel, Cécile Coulon explores universal themes: the poetic force of nature and the darkness of men. She is the author of Une bête au Paradis, winner of the Prix littéraire du Monde, Trois saisons d'orage, winner of the Prix des Libraires, and the collection of poems Les Ronces, winner of the Prix Apollinaire.

With The Language of Hidden Things, her talents as a novelist and poet are combined in an exceptional literary work.

(Source: Athenaeum.com)

La langue des choses cachées ••• Le point de vue de Janine

17/05/25

Encabanée

by Gabrielle Filteau-Chiba

Anouk has left her comfortable apartment in Montreal for a run-down forest shelter in Kamouraska. Isolated far from everything in the depths of a harsh winter, she documents her experience in a logbook, complete with lists and sketches. Seeking to adapt to her frugal way of life and overcome her fear, she puts down on paper the transformation unfolding within her: fear of the dark and coyotes gives way to wonder; disgust with the system, to hope; and daily hardships, to perfecting techniques for clearing snow, heating with a wood stove, and coexisting with the creatures that rule the boreal forest.

Encabanée is a journey deep into the woods, and into the self. A quest for meaning far from civilisation. A return to one’s roots. This is the pilgrimage needed to reconnect with her Quebec roots, with the rigour of early colonial settlements and a library of poets to keep her bearings.

But must one go so far as to inhabit the land in order to better defend it?

Encabanée ••• Le point de vue de Janine

(Translated from Babelio)

24/04/25

Nation
by Terry Pratchett

The book chosen for discussion by one of the book club's regular members is Nation by Terry Pratchett, published in 2008. Set in an alternate 1860s world, the story follows Mau and Daphne as it explores themes of identity, faith, and civilisation in the aftermath of a devastating catastrophe.

Alone on a desert island – everything and everyone he knows and loves has been washed away in a storm – Mau is the last surviving member of his nation. He’s completely alone – or so he thinks until he finds the ghost girl. She has no toes, wears strange lacy trousers like the grandfather bird, and gives him a stick that can make fire.

Daphne, sole survivor of the wreck of the Sweet Judy, almost immediately regrets trying to shoot the native boy. Thank goodness the powder was wet and the gun only produced a spark. She’s certain her father, distant cousin of the Royal family, will come and rescue her but it seems, for now, that all she has for company is the boy and the foul-mouthed ship’s parrot, until other survivors arrive to take refuge on the island. Together, Mau and Daphne discover some remarkable things (including how to milk a pig, and why spitting in beer is a good thing), and start to forge a new nation.

Encompassing themes of death and nationhood, Terry Pratchett’s new novel is, as can be expected, extremely funny, witty and wise. Mau’s ancestors have something to teach us all. Mau just wishes they would shut up about it and let him get on with saving everyone’s lives!

Born in 1948 and passed away in 2015, Terry Pratchett was a British author often hailed as the greatest English humorist since P. G. Wodehouse.

He is best known for his humorous fantasy novels, in particular the Discworld (41 novels), in which he subverts the conventions of the genre to deliver a sharp satire of contemporary society.

In his novels, Pratchett draws inspiration freely from classic literature, detective stories, popular culture, history (both ancient and modern), as well as myths and legends... always with an unexpected twist. His characters, vivid and memorable, are one of the richest sources of humor in his work.

Nation ••• Le résumé commenté de Laëtitia Krynen

(Source: Goodreads)

22/03/25

Madelaine avant l'aube
by Sandrine Collette

Winner of the Prix Goncourt des lycéens 2024

Tucked away from the world, the tiny hamlet of Les Montées is a world unto itself for twins Ambre and Aelis, and old Rose.

Here, life has never been easy: the families work an unforgiving land that belongs to others, enduring injustice with clenched teeth. But this has always been the way.

Then one day, Madelaine appears: a wild, half-starved little girl who steps out of the forest. Taken in by the villagers, Madelaine captivates them with her passion, courage, and sheer vitality. Yet, in her eyes remains a strange little flame, not quite right. A flame that will one day set the world on fire.

In Madelaine avant l'aube, Sandrine Collette explores the order of things, probing the instinct for revolt, and offers us, through her dazzling prose, an ode to the unbreakable bonds of family.

Madelaine avant l'aube ••• Le point de vue de Janine

(Translated from Babelio)

06/03/25

The Fourth Wall (Le Quatrième mur)
by Sorj Chalandon

Samuel had a dream, beautiful and reckless: to stage Jean Anouilh’s Antigone in Beirut. To steal two hours from the war, casting one actor from each camp, sons and daughters of sworn enemies; and bring them together on a makeshift stage, between a bombed-out courtyard and a ransacked garden.

Samuel was Greek. Jewish, too. A brother to me, in a way. One day, he asked me to take part in this poetic truce. He made me – a small-time theatre man from the suburbs – promise, and I said yes. So I went to Beirut, on February 10, 1982, with my hand outstretched in peace. Before the war brutally offered me its own...

Le Quatrième mur ••• Le point de vue de Janine

Awards and distinctions

2013: winner of the Prix Goncourt des lycéens, Prix Phénix de littérature; shortlisted for the Goncourt List: le Choix de l'Orient and le Choix Roumain

2014: Prix des écrivains croyants, Prix des libraires du Québec, Readers’ Choice Award – Escale du livre

2015: Readers’ Choice Award – Le Livre de poche

Film adaptation

The Fourth Wall (Le Quatrième Mur, 2024), French, Luxembourg and Belgian drama film directed by David Oelhoffen

Sorj Chalandon

An Impossible Return (Rivage de la colère)
by Caroline Laurent

Prix Maison de la Presse 2020

An epic love story set against a backdrop of injustice, devastating secrets, and the painful price of independence.

It’s 1967 in the Chagos archipelago – a group of atolls in the Indian Ocean – and life is peaceful and easy for hardworking Marie. Her fierce independence and love for her home are quickly apparent to Gabriel, the handsome and sophisticated Mauritian secretary to the archipelago’s administrator; it’s love at first sight. As these two lovers from neighboring islands welcome a new son, Joséphin, a bright future seems possible. But Gabriel is hiding a terrible secret. The Mauritian government is negotiating independence from Britain, and this deal with the devil will mean evacuating the Chagos, without warning or mercy – a betrayal that will put their love to the test.

Inspired by a shocking travesty of justice, the repercussions of which still reverberate more than fifty years later, bestselling Franco-Mauritian author Caroline Laurent paints a shimmering portrait of island life, a sensual paradise lost, and a gorgeous star-crossed love against all odds.

Rivage de la colère ••• Le point de vue de Janine

13/02/25

The meeting place and the women behind it

The novel

About the author

Caroline Laurent, born in 1988 to a Mauritian mother, is both a novelist and an editor.

Her career

• JC Lattès (French publishing house), co-founded the "Plein Feu" collection in 2013.

• Éditions Les Escales (French publishing house), created the "Domaine français" collection in 2016.

• Stock (French publishing house), literary director for French and Francophone fiction since 2018. Launched "Arpège", a new fiction collection, in January 2019.

• Member of the Commission Vie Littéraire of the National Center for the Book (CNL – Centre national du livre) since October 2019.

Her works

2017 – Et soudain la liberté (co-written with Evelyne Pisier)

• Prix Marguerite Duras

• Grand prix des lycéennes ELLE

• Prix Première Plume.

2020 – An Impossible Return (Rivage de la colère)

• Prix Maison de la Presse 2020

• Prix roman métis des lecteurs de la ville de Saint-Denis

• Prix roman métis des lycéens, grand prix des blogueurs, prix Paul Bourdarie 2021 of the Académie des sciences d'outre-mer

• Shortlisted for the Prix Babelio 2020

2022 – Ce que nous désirons le plus

(Source: Goodreads)

12/12/24

Who Killed My Father (Qui a tué mon père)
by Édouard Louis

Who Killed My Father is the story of a tough guy – the story of the little boy I never was. The story of my father.

In Who Killed My Father, Édouard Louis explores key moments in his father’s life, and the tenderness and disconnects in their relationship.

Told with the fire of a writer determined on social justice, and with the compassion of a loving son, the book urgently and brilliantly engages with issues surrounding masculinity, class, homophobia, shame and social poverty.

It unflinchingly takes aim at systems that disadvantage those they seek to exclude – those who have their expectations, hopes and passions crushed by a society which gives them little thought.

Qui a tué mon père ••• Le point de vue de Janine

(Source: Goodreads)

21/11/24

L'Enfant rivière
by Isabelle Amonou

The plot: Zoé searches for her son Nathan, who vanished along the banks of the Ottawa River in Canada, transformed by climate change.

The quest for identity: Camille-Kimi, Zoé's mother, an Algonquin Indigenious woman, shares her story of being torn from her people and locked away in a “white” and “French” boarding school.

A dystopian vision of a future Canada: one that imagines waves of migrants arriving in the wake of the United States’ collapse, and explores how a nation might respond, with solidarity or with rejection.

L'enfant rivière ••• Le point de vue de Janine

Many thanks to the author
ISABELLE AMONOU ►►►
who honoured the 3rd Inter+Café with her presence.

INTER+CAFÉ #3 • DETAILED INFORMATION

14/10/24

Take This Man (Jusque dans nos bras)
by Alice Zeniter

Today, Alice is going to marry Mad. They have been friends since childhood. They have played together, cried together, and taken stands against injustice together. Today, Alice is going to marry Mad–not because after years of friendship they have suddenly become romantically involved, but because Alice is white and French, and Mad is neither. Despite having spent almost his entire life in France, Mad, born in Mali, is now being threatened with deportation. Today, Alice is going to marry Mad–because getting married seems the only possible solution to Mad's predicament. Today, Alice is going to marry Mad, and for Alice this step marks the end of adolescence, the end of her years of innocence and the start of adulthood.

In lyrical and colloquial prose, Alice Zeniter tells a tender generational story about love, politics, rebellion, and friendship. Take This Man is a delightful work of fiction by a talented young author.

Jusque dans nos bras ••• Le point de vue de Janine

(Source: Goodreads)

19/09/24

Les Sources
by Marie-Hélène Lafon

The story takes place in the Cantal (rural department in south-central France), on a farm in the Santoire Valley where Saint-Nectaire cheese is made, against a backdrop of upheavals in the farming world in the second half of the twentieth century.

She and He live there with their three children, isolated at the end of a country lane, at the edge of the world, a place visited only by the postman, the cattle dealer, and the vet. Nobody comes by, and they do not go to others.

Time unfolds in three distinct periods: the first in June 1967, the second in May 1974, and the final sequence in 2021.

Les Sources ••• Le point de vue de Janine