A Hundred Million Years and a Day by Jean-Baptiste Andrea

A Hundred Million Years and a Day by Jean-Baptiste Andrea

On the mountain, the only monsters are the ones you take with you.

Summer 1954. Stan has been hunting for fossils since the age of six. Now, having made a career out of studying the remains of tiny lifeforms, he hears a story he cannot forget: the skeleton of a huge creature, a veritable dragon, lies deep in an Alpine glacier. And he is determined to find it.

Leaving his life in Paris behind, Stan sets out in pursuit of a legend. But he is no mountaineer, and to attempt his dangerous expedition he must call on loyal friend and colleague Umberto, who arrives with an eccentric young assistant, and expert guide Gio. Time is short: the four men must descend before the weather turns. Bonds are forged and tested as the hazardous quest for the earth's lost creatures becomes a journey into Stan's own past.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE PRIX JOSEPH KESSEL 2020

SHORTLISTED FOR THE GRAND PRIX DE L'ACADÉMIE FRANÇAISE 2019 

SHORTLISTED FOR THE GRAND PRIX DES BLOGUEURS LITTÉRAIRES 2019

‘Unforgettable’ Mail on Sunday 

‘Powerful’ Sunday Times 

'Spare, elegant and poetic, this slender novel is quietly devastating' Daily Mail 

'Breathless and heartbreaking. . Tracing a treasure that waits just out of reach, A Hundred Million Years and a Day speaks to the adventurers within us all’ Foreword Reviews

‘Using beautiful imagery and poetic language, Andrea takes us to the mountains for an adventure that is as cruel as it is magical’ Le Figaro 

‘Gripping and poetic, it keeps you hooked until the final page’ La Croix 

‘Under Jean-Baptiste Andrea’s skilled penmanship, the alpine adventure novel becomes a moving tale of personal discovery, and the fossil, a brilliant metaphor for the search for perfection’ Le Nouveau Magazine Littéraire 

‘The author’s voice has the imagination to move mountains, but shows an awareness that the journey means more than the destination. We’re with the narrator every step of the way, admiring his determination to fulfil his dream’ Libération 

‘Go and buy it now. . . Andrea’s beautiful words are both heartrending and comforting’ Télématin 

‘The poetry of the language and intensity of feeling give nature an intoxicating splendour’ Le Matricule des Anges

‘A sublime and beautiful book’ Carys Davies

‘Every line is golden. It’s impossible to describe it without selling it short. It is a small, perfect thing, beautiful and devastating’ Sara Taylor

Praise for Ma Reine:

Winner of 12 literary awards, including the Prix du Premier Roman and Prix Femina des Lycéens.

'A powerful, magnetic novel' Lire

'A book of great charm. Poetic, otherworldly and original' Telerama

‘A poetic, dreamlike little gem’ Le Figaro littéraire

Jean-Baptiste Andrea is a director, screenwriter and author. Born in 1971, he grew up in Cannes. His first novel, Ma Reine, was published in 2017 and won 12 literary prizes including the Prix du Premier Roman and the Prix Femina des Lycéens.

Sam Taylor was born in Nottinghamshire, England in 1970, and began his career as a journalist with The Observer. In 2001, he moved to southwest France, where he wrote four novels. In 2010, he translated his first novel: Laurent Binet's HHhH. He now lives in the United States and works as a literary translator and author. Recent translations include The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair, The Heart (for which he won the French-American Translation Prize) and Lullaby/The Perfect Nanny.