The Wide World by Pierre Lemaitre

The Wide World by Pierre Lemaitre

The "jubilant and exciting" saga of one prominent French family in postwar Paris, Beirut, and Saigon--an electrifying novel of passion, greed, murder, and revenge (Sandrine Bajos, Le Parisien)

 

The Pelletiers are a prominent French family living in 1948 Beirut. The patriarch, Louis, has built a successful business that he hopes to pass on to his eldest son. With no head for management, Jean nearly sinks the company, then marries a materialistic young woman who insists they emigrate to Paris and join high society. But there is another reason Jean must leave--he has committed a terrible crime.

 

Youngest son Etienne is sent to make his fortune in Saigon. There, he begins investigating a covert scheme to channel smuggled goods and cash to the Viet Minh. But the evidence he collects presents a real threat to his own life.

 

François, the middle brother, arrives in Paris and becomes a journalist. His career takes off when he starts covering the brutal murder of an actress that seems part of a pattern of killings. But the killer he's chasing may be closer to him than he realizes.

 

Eighteen-year Hélène follows her brothers to Paris seeking adventure and soon throws herself into the dissolute life of an art student. But she must grow up fast when she is called upon to travel to Indochina and continue the investigation Etienne started.

 

Epic in scope, and a vivid depiction of French life in the booming postwar years, The Wide World is a riveting saga that is at once gripping and classic.

Pierre Lemaitre was born in 1951 in Paris. Before to winning the Goncourt Prize in 2013 for Nos vemos allá arriba, he was a well-known author in the policing book genre. With Irène (Alfaguara 2015, Premio a la Prima Novela Policiaca del Festival de Cognac, Premio San Clemente, considerada Mejor Novela Negra del Ao por El Periódico de Catalunya), Camille Verhoeven launched the series, which includes Alex (Alfaguara 2015, Dagger Award 2013, Premio de Lectores de Novela Negra de Outside of the series, Vestido de novia (Alfaguara 2014, Prix del Salon du Polar 2009 & Premio Best Novel Valencia Negra, en course de adaptación al cine), Recursos inhumanos (Alfaguara 2017, Premio de Novela Negra Europea, en curso de adaptación como serie de televisión), and Tres das y una In addition to the Goncourt and three Dagger Awards, she has won the Lire Prize for the Best French Novel of 2013, the Premio Roman France Télévisions, and the Premio de los Libreros de Nancy-Le Point, and her work has been translated into thirty languages.