Plon Frankfurt 2014

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FRANKFURT 2014

Florence Maletrez RIGHTS SALES MAN AGER Florence.maletrez@editionsplon.com PLON & PRESSES D E LA REN AISSAN CE 12, avenue d’Italie 75013 Paris Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 09 30


Contents EVEN T 4-5

O f Amber and Silk by N ed jm a

LITERATURE 7 8 10-11

Monsieur is dead by Karine Silla St ory of a Ninny by Margau x Gu yon Miroir Series : Jim by H arold Cobert Noureev by Philip p e Grim bert

HISTORICAL N OVELS 13 14-15 16-19

The t alisman of t heBold Vol.2 by Ju liette Benzoni Let iz ia R. Bonapart e by Patrick d e Carolis Hist ory as a nov el Collect ion  Bonapart e’s Irish man by Roger Faligot  W here do t he sw allow s go in w int er by Pierre Rival  The Game of golden skit t les by Jean-Pierre Fou rnier La Tou raille  St alin’s Trumpet play er by Patrick Anid jar  A season of granit by Florian Ferrier

TESTIMON IES 21 22 23

I w as in Hell by Fayza D. My body belongs t o me by Am ina Sbou i Cat holic p hysician, I practice euthanasia by Corinne Van Oost

ESSAYS 25 26 27

The bear does not t he philosopher by Sop hie Cassat The disinherit ed by François-Xavier Bellam y O bst inacy by Myriam Revau lt d ’Allonnes, Ad èle Van Reeth W ickedness by Michaël Foessel, Ad èle Van Reeth

D ICTION ARY FOR LOVERS 29 30 31

Dict ionary for Lov ers List Dictionary for Modern and Contemporary Art by Pierre N ahon Dict ionary for Piano Lov ers by Olivier Bellam y

BESTSELLERS 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42

Himmler From my land t o t he Eart h Dict ionary of t he Impossible Creat iv e Dest ruct ion I’v e gone anot her w ay Dict ionary for lov ers of Marcel Proust I married a jerk Cart ier-Bresson Hergé O ne’s life t hrough t he ey es of a doll

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr

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EVENT

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


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EVENT

THE SEQUEL TO NEDJMA’S WORLWIDE BESTSELLER: “L’AMANDE”

OF AMBER AND SILK Nedjma

A torrid novel of the sexual adventures of a Middle Eastern man in Paris, as well as a satirical tract in which an Arab woman settles the score with the Muslim man.

190 pages 8 January 2015 (text available)

For the third tim e, N ed jm a takes on the them e that rem ains the p enu ltim ate taboo of the Arab w orld : sex. After L’A mande, an initial narrative that w ill stand out in the history of literature as the first erotic novel w ritten by an Arab w oman , and La traverse des sens, w hich traces the erotic jou rney of a you ng Mu slim w om an, D’ambre et de soie is the tale of the sexu al escap ad es of a Moroccan stu d ent w ho has com e to Paris. Constitu tionally incap able of loving w om en —let alone by Eu rop ean w om en—d u e to his cu ltu re, Karim find s him self confronted w ith the tu rbu lent sexu ality of Western Society. Destiny w ill p lace Bad ra, the heroine of L’amande, squ arely in his p ath, and she w ill take him in hand . H aving recovered from the affairs of her you th, accom p anied only by the m em ory of her form er lover, now in his tom b, Bad ra has becom e a m atu re w om an, p erhap s a bit jad ed , bu t w ise in the w ays of love. She is the one Karim , the Arab, w ill ap p roach to tell of his love life and his sex life, to try som ehow to u nd erstand w here it has all gone w rong. In retu rn, Bad ra w ill not hesitate to tell him a few p lain tru ths concerning Arab m en. The new and long-aw aited novel of N edjma, au thor of L’A mande, the novel w hose international su ccess led to its p u blication in 25 cou ntries (w ith over 120,000 cop ies sold i n France alone), stand ing ou t as the first erotic novel w ritten by a Mu slim w om an. N ed jm a is also the au thor of La traversée des sens (Plon, 2009). Since she received a nu m ber of d eath threats w hen L’A mande w as p u blished , the au thor p refers to stick to her nom d e p lu m e, N ed jm a, rather than reveal her id entity.

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


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Nedjma’s former bestseller :

120.000 copies sold in France, translated into 25 languages:            

Brazil (Editorial Objetiva) Croatia (N aklada Oceanmore) Germany (D roemer Verlagsanstalt) D enmark (Tiderne Skifter) Finland (Wsoy) Greece (Livanis) Great-Britain (Transw orld) Spain (Maeva Ediciones) Italy (Einaudi) Japan (Bungei Shunku) Poland (Zysk) U.S.A (Grove Press)

            

Hungary (Trivium Kiado) The N etherlands (D e Bezige Bij) N orw ay (Bazar Forlag AS) Portugal (Asa/grupo Leya) Russia (Ripol Classic) Romania (Editura Trei) Serbia (Laguna) Slovenia (Mladinska Zalozba) Sw eden (Bazar Förlag AB) Czech Republic (Brana) Turkey (Erko Yayincilik) Taiw an (Aquarius Publishing) Vietnam (Cong ty co phan Van Viet)

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


LITERATURE


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LITERATURE

MONSIEUR IS DEAD Karine Silla

Does the death of one’s father signify that it is time for the end of the secrets and the unsaid, time for forgiveness? Or is it the time for resurgent guilt?

On the way of becoming French Bookseller’s favorite book 208 pages 21 August 2014

“The narrator of this u nu su al novel is Vincent, the second of fou r sons of the Ram bald i fam ily. Fifteen years ago, he conqu ered his ad d iction to heroin by him self, thanks to an energetic p lu nge into Pascal’s Pensées, and left for Ind ia, w here he becam e a forem an in Mr Ku m ar’s w orkshop , in Calcu tta. There, he tried to find a sim p le kind of hap p iness. Bu t once again, d estiny com es knocking at his d oor, in a p hone call from his m other: “You r father is d ead .” Vincent consid ers m ou rning a m ere “form ality”, s ince, in his m ind , he bu rned his brid ges long ago. And he cou ld ignore the w hole thing, bu t instead he d rop s everything and retu rns to Paris for the fu neral. And yet, once he arrives at the foot of the bu ild ing w here he grew u p –Lou is Ram bald i, heir of a fam ily of Italian ind u strialists, once ow ned the entire bu ild ing, w hich he tu rned into a fabu lou s m u seu m to his ow n ego —Vincent is incap able of going u p to the ap artm ent. H e is su d d enly flood ed w ith too m any p ainfu l m em ories, all of w hich com e back to him d u ring his d istrau ght and solitary flight from the scene. Lou is Ram bald i, a m onster w ho insisted that everyone call him “Monsieu r”, had red u ced his w ife to a slave and d id his sons no service in their u p bringing, giving each of them a m onthly allow ance o f 40,000FR on cond ition that, follow ing his exam p le, they shou ld never w ork! This sinister ed u cation com p letely d em olished them . Gabriel, the eld est, com m it su icid e after his father had forced him into p erverse sexu al acts. Ju lien, the you ngest, w ho m ar ried you ng to escap e his fam ily, has failed at everything and becom e a violent ju nkie. And last, Tristan, w ho is m iserable, tries to create an id entity by cross-d ressing. Vincent, of cou rse, took off in ord er to save him self. So, w hat if he w ere to ju st tu rn arou nd and go back to Ind ia, w ithou t seeing anyone? Finally, he d ecid es to go u p stairs, to go “hom e”, for a reu nion d inner that tu rns into a free-for-all. And now he m u st confront still another ord eal: how w ill he react w hen he m u st face his father’s corp se ? Karine Silla is a p layw right, screenw riter, and d irector, and one can sense all three in this restrained first novel, in m onologu es, in flashbacks, an original and w ell-p lotted w ork. A tru e story that has becom e fiction —one that Mau riac w ou ld have ad ored .” Article in Livres Hebdo

Karine Silla is a p layw right, screenw riter, and p rod u cer. M onsieur est mort is her first novel.

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


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LITERATURE

STORY OF A NINNY Margaux Guyon

A translator of erotic novels, Lena’s real life is suddenly invaded by the universe of the books to which she devotes her working hours.

288 pages 21 August 2014

Léna and Thom as love each other tend erly. Resu lt: they’re bored silly at hom e. She sm others her anxieties by w riting p u ff p ieces for a w om en’s m agazine and by translating Dangereux Louboutins, a series of novels that has revolu tionized the erotic on the other sid e of the Atlantic and is p rep aring to conqu er the soft p orn read ers of Eu rop e. Thom as hop es to su cceed in the field of ep hem eral architectu re. In the m eantim e, he w orks in an agency d evoted to the constru ction of low -rent hou sing—an area w hich insp ires in him absolu tely no interest w hatsoever. And then Antonin, a you ng m an w ho is the sp itting im age of the hero o f Dangereux Louboutins, arrives on the scene and sed u ces the beau tifu l Léna in no tim e at all. After a su m m er sp ent in the m u scu lar arm s of the insip id you ng m an, Léna realizes that the d iabolical p osession of w hich she is the object has gone on far too long. After short w ork of her break-u p w ith a tearfu l Antonin, the situ ation p rom ises to be id yllic. Bu t Léna d iscovers that Thom as’s new co -w orker is strangely attached to her m entor. Will Léna’s m ind less d etou r of erotic p assion, the story of a ninny, p rove fatal? Margaux Guyon is 24. After Latex, etc. (Plon, 2011), and Tombeau pour Don Juan (Plon, 2013), N unuche Story is her third novel. She translates hu gely p op u lar Am erican novels, the titles of w hich w e d are not cite here. She lives in Paris.

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


MIROIR SERIES


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LITERATURE

MIROIR SERIES

Directed by Amanda Sthers « A writer is haunted by strange characters, whether wicked or funny, underhanded, in love, cowardly or crazy. A nd so, as writers, we have to live with these people who force us to tell their stories and who transform us when, with a stroke of the pen, we manage to understand them and forgive them. Sometimes these characters have had unusual destinies they seem to reinvent in us. Perhaps they are our unwitting doubles, or the mirror of our fantasies or our neuroses. The ambition of this collection is to reinvent the lives of great figures of History, whether artists, politicians, or heroes of fiction. By giving them new lives as the protagonists of novels, talented writers allow us to better understand them and to learn to love them.” A manda Sthers

126 p ages October 2010

Rights sold in :  Korea (Op en Book)  Italy (N ew Book)  Poland (Znak)  Ru ssia (AST)  Rom ania (Rao)  Sp ain (Santillana)

174 p ages Janu ary 2013

132 p ages Au gu st 2011

238 p ages October 2010 10.000 copies sold

Rights sold in :  Tu rkey (Everest)

200 p ages Janu ary 2013

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


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MIROIR SERIES

LITERATURE

JIM

Harold Cobert In 1971, in Paris, Jim Morrison sought desperately to save the suffocated poet he had always aspired to be from being definitively crushed by the rock star he had become. Through this contribution to the «Miroirs» collection, Harold Colbert allows the reader to share the last months of the life of Jim Morrison, face to face w ith his ow n demons and the many countenances he had assumed. In m id -March 1971, Jim Morrison m eets his girlfriend Pam ela again in Paris. The man who often strolls like a shadow along the streets of the French capital is far from the slend er rock star in skin-tight black leather who, scarcely four years ago, w as know n as “The Lizard King”. Chubby, beard ed , his long hair alread y show ing signs of grey, overwhelm ed by the Miam i legal action, to w hich he has just filed an appeal, that threatens him w ith a lengthy 192 p ages prison term , d isgusted by the m usic ind ustry, he is going through a profound existentia l 25 Sep tember 2014 crisis and sinking slow ly into the d epths of d epression. H e is seriously thinking of leaving m usic altogether and d evoting him self to w riting, in particular to poetry. But w hen he w ithd raw s into solitud e, he find s him self confronted by his d em ons, his ghosts, and the thousand faces he has taken on. In his w and erings and his outrageous alcoholic excesses, he tries to untangle the thread s of obscure, hid d en m eaning woven together in the d estiny of this m ilitary brat, incessantly bounced around from one city to the next as his father’s career d em anded , an icon of international rock who has taken refuge as a pariah in Paris, the hom e of w riters w ho are dam ned . Go back to m usic, or d evote him self to poetry to prevent Jim Morrison the rock star from d efinitively killing Jim , the suffocated poet he has always aspired to be, this is the d esperate and insoluble quest Jam es Douglas Morrison w ill pursue in Paris d uring the last m onths of his life, finally joining, in his strange d em ise, the m ythical club of artists w ho d isappeared prem aturely at the age of 27, and thus beco m ing a legend w hose shooting star continues to fascinate generations. Harold Cobert is a novelist and the author of Un hiver avec Baudelaire (5,600 copies sold ), L’entrevue de Saint-Cloud, Dieu surfe au pays Basque and A u nom du père, du fils et du rock’n’roll, published by Ed itions H éloïse d’Orm esson.

NOUREEV

Philippe Grimbert Returning from his first visit to Russia since his famous leap tow ards liberty, Rudolf N ureyev confides the reasons for his profound depression to a psychoanalyst, thus marking the initiation of a somew hat unorthodox treatment. A journey into the life sto ry of this living legend, but also a confrontation during which games of pow er and fascination w ill play out between the tw o men. But w ho w ill really lead the dance?

200 p ages 15 Janu ary 2015 (text exp ected 30 Sep tember 2014)

Tristan Feller, a Parisian psychoanalyst, is reputed to have received a great num ber o f celebrities from the w orld of perform ance or of literature at his consulting room . Wiser for these years of practice, he enjoys this reversal of the situation in which these personalities, inaccessible id ols, strip them selves of their suits of light to becom e, through psychoanalytic transfer, once again trem bling child ren w ho have com e to place their d estiny in his hand s. One encounter w ith an uncomm on patient w ill nonetheless upset his habitual analytic behavior and bring him , against his w ill, to experience his practice in a d ifferent light. At the origin of this upheaval is a sim ple phone call from the m ajordomo of the famous d ancer, Rud olf N ureyev, requesting on the part of the artist an appo intment as soon as possible. Intrigued by this to say the least unusual approach, the psychoanalyst surprises him self by accepting w hat w ill constitute the first in a long series of instances in w hich he w ill bend his ow n principles.

In fact, the aura of this singular ind ivid ual im poses such a specific color upon the therapeutic relationship that Feller rapid ly find s him self d estabilized by his encounter w ith the star. Upon his return from his first visit to Russia since his famous leap toward s liberty, N ureyev is extremely d epressed and confid es in Feller, explaining the reason why and thus marking the beginning of a treatm ent that is scarcely orthodox. What ensues is a journey into the life history of this living legend as w ell as a confrontation d uring w hich gam es of pow er and fascination w ill p lay out betw een the w orld famous artist and the experienced practitioner. Which one w ill actually lead the dance and become the analyst of the other? Philippe Grimbert is a psychoanalyst, w riter, and essayist. H is novels, Un secret (Grasset, 2004) – Prix Wiso and Grand Prix d es lectrices d e Elle), La M auvaise Rencontre (Grasset, 2009), and Un garçon singulier (Grasset, 2011) have m et w ith popular and critical success. H e is also the author of several essays, includ ing Psychanalyse de la chanson, Pas de fumée sans Freud and Chantons sous la psy.

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


HISTORICAL NOVELS


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LITERATURE

THE TALISMAN OF THE BOLD – VOLUME 2

The Burgundy Diamond Juliette Benzoni

After les Trois Frères, the continuing adventures of Aldo Morosini as he searches for MarieAngéline, for rubies, and for the “Burgundy Diamond” of Charles the Bold.

456 pages 2 October 2014

The treasu re of Charles the Bold lead s Ald o Morosini and his gang from one crazy ad ventu re to the next, m arked by d isap p earances and d iscoveries, lies and revelations, from Paris to Franch Com té by w ay of Sw itzerland . H aving su cceed ed in p inning d ow n the three ru bies called «The Three Brothers”, ou r hero takes off after a large blu e-tinted stone of inestim able valu e, know n as “The Diam ond of Bu rgu nd y”. Bu t first of all, Ald o Morosini m u st find Marie-Angéline, w ho has ru n aw ay, taking w ith her the ru by he had held carefu lly in safekeep ing —u ntil the d ay she stole it.

By the same author : The Talisman of the Bold – V olume 1 : 20.000 copies sold Rights sold in: Czech Republic (Brana) and Russia (Exmo licence) La guerre des Duchesses – V olumes 1 and 2: 70.000 copies sold Rights sold in: Russia (Exmo licence) Le bal des poignards – Tomes 1 et 2 : 190 000 copies sold Rights sold in: Czech Republic (Plejada)

Juliette Benzoni is 94 and lives near Paris. H er w orks ap p eal to a vast and faithfu l p u blic, and she has earned her p resent rep u tation as queen of the French historical novel. Am ong her novels are Le boiteux de V arsovie, La Florentine, M arie les intrigues, M arie les passions, La perle de l’Empereur, Les larmes de M arie-A ntoinette, Le jeu de l’A mour et la M ort, Secrets d’Etat, L’anneau d’A tlantide, the Le bal des poignards series, La Chimère d’or des Borgia, La Collection Kledermann and the La guerre des duchesses series.

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


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LITERATURE

LETIZIA R. BONAPARTE, mother of all sorrows Patrick de Carolis

After his two best-sellers, Les Demoiselles de Provence (500.000 copies sold) and La Dame du Palatin (70.000 copies sold), Patrick de Carolis presents the fictionalized diary of Napoleon’s mother, based upon original archives to which he was granted access. 400 pages 6 novem ber 2014

« Who cou ld have foreseen su ch a gloriou s fu tu re? H ow can one im agine giving birth to so m any kings and qu eens, p rinces and p rincesses, and to this d em i-god w ho m ad e all of Eu rop e trem ble? The flight of the eagle. The Battle of Italy and the 18th of Bru m aire, the Consu lat and then the Em p ire, and w e, his fam ily, cau ght u p in the w ake of his fabu lou s d estiny. N am ed Im p erial H ighness by the grace of m y son, I shall never forget, d esp ite all the w ealth and glory, that the initials of m y title w ere lim ited to L.R.B (Letizia Ram olino Bonap arte). I never allow ed m yself to be im p ressed by the finery of the Em p ire, the only thing tha t m attered to m e w as the fu tu re of m y child ren. Those w ho su ffered the m ost w ere m y favorites. The fate of Lu cien w as the sou rce of m y greatest d esp air. Refu sing to take ord ers from his brother, he w ou ld be rem oved from the su ccession. Josep h, the eld e st, hesitated in his choices; Lou is w as too fragile to ru le. My d au ghters w ere flighty or am bitiou s, brilliant and fickle. Jerom e w as im m atu re and a sp end thrift. My heart bleed s for all of them . They enjoyed the greatest honors, and tod ay they are stateless. They tu rn to m e for help , a sou rce of su p p ort. My thriftiness, this m iserliness of w hich all accu se m e, allow s m e to soften their bu rd ens. M ater N apoleonis I have been, to the p oint of exhau stion. I’ve seen it all—the farew ells of Fontainebleau , the retreat to the Island of Elba, the H u nd red Days and the final fall, and exile to Saint H elena. I w anted to join him there, bu t he refu sed . In d esp eration, I w rote to all the crow ned head s of Eu rop e. N othing. N ot even an answ er. I w as inconsolable. And then this d eath w ithou t honor, of w hich I learned later on. Elisa w as no longer w ith u s, Pau line w as nearing the end of her d ays, and then the Du c d e Reichstad t and still others. My lot of m isfortu nes seem s lim itless. I loved them all so m u ch, bu t I have su ffered so. Am I not the m other of all sorrow s? » Patrick d e Carolis

Patrick de Carolis is a jou rnalist, p rod u cer, and host of «Des racines et d es ailes» and «Le Grand Tou r», p rogram m es on France 3 television. Presid ent of France Télévisions from 2005 to 2010, he is the co-au thor, w ith Bernad ette Chirac, of Conversation (Plon, 2003). H is tw o historical novels Les Demoiselles de Provence (2005) and La Dame du Palatin (2011) have both been best sellers.

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


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LITERATURE

BY THE SAME AUTHOR Struggles for pow er, crusades and courtly love abound in Les demoiselles de Prov ence, a historical novel about the four daughters th of the Comte de Provence set in XIII -century Europe.

432 pages 4 May 2005

500.000 COPIES SOLD

Provence w as a land of battles and trou bad ou rs. Und er the ru le of Raim on Berenger V, it has becom e a sovereign cou nty thanks to his cou rage and tenacity. H is beau tifu l w ife, Com tesse Béatrice d e Savoie, has given birth to fou r d au ghters: Margu erite, Eléonore, Sancie and Béatrice. All blessed w ith beau ty, ed u cation and virtu es, they are to reign over fou r of the m ost coveted Eu rop ean realm s. Throu gh the lives of these fou r w om en, m ed ieval Eu rop e is p ictu red w ith its w ars and cru sad es. France, England , Provence, N ap les, Tu nis or Jeru salem … su ch are the scenes w here their love affairs, d isap p ointm ents, p lots and secrets take p lace. Once the d au g hters of a Com te, they are now qu eens. Bu t they w ill never forget Provence, their m other land … Rights sold in :  Czech Republic : Baronet  Hungary : General Press

With the novelized biography of the w ife of Seneca, one of the greatest philosophers of Antiquity, Patrick de Carolis takes us to the heart of the violent intrigues of N ero’s Rome.

450 pages 3 March 2011

70.000 COPIES SOLD

Arelate, ancient Arles, in the year 38 A .D. Pau lina, d au ghter of the w ealthy ship bu ild er Pom p eiu s Pau linu s, find s herself betw een Scylla and Charybd is. Tau ru s, her hu sband , has fled to the East w ith his m istress and d isap p eared in a ship w reck. H er only son d ies. So she leaves for Rom e and , cau ght in a violent storm at sea, end s u p on a Corsican beach. It is there that she m eets the Stoic p hilosop her Seneca, in exile for p olitical reasons. H aving interced ed for the p hilosop her’s rehabilitation w ith Agrip p ina, the fearsom e m other of the fu tu re N ero, the you ng Gau l becom es the lad y of the Palatine w hen she m arries Seneca. Ju st as hap p iness seem s in sight, Pau lina is confronted w ith the intrigu es of the cou rt, the consp iracies, the assassinations, and the escap ad es of the blood thirsty Em p eror. Accom p anying the p hilosop her on the long p ath to w isd om , Pau lina m eets som e of the m ost fam ou s p ersonalities of her centu ry, in p articu lar one w ho w ill becom e Saint Pau l, fleeing the p ersecu tion of the Christians. Cru elty seem s the d om inant m otivation at cou rt, and Pau lina is all the m ore sensitive to w hat she begins to hear all over Rom e: God is love. Patrick d e Carolis p aints the su m p tu ou s d ecors of im p erial Rom e and brilliantly d escribes the legend ary sp lend or of its banqu ets, w here the scent of the m ost p reciou s p erfu m es of the Em p ire blend s w ith the brim stone od or of consp iracy.

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


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HISTORICAL NOVELS

HISTORY AS A NOVEL SERIES France’s rich and tu rbu lent p ast has insp ired great w riters su ch as Victor H u go and Alexand re Du m as to create historical novels that are tru e m asterp ieces, and , in that trad ition, L’Histoire en roman collection intend s to breathe new life into this com p elling literary genre. Whether the su bject is a tight grou p of nobles from Au vergne w ho d ream of liberating you ng Lou is XVII from the Tem p le d u ring the French Revolu tion; you ng Bonap arte’s tru sted right hand m an, Kilm aine the Irishm an; a typ ograp her w ho sou ght to p revent N ap oleon III’s coup d’état, or a violinist cau ght u p in the tragic w hirlw ind of Stalinism , this collection seeks to tell the story of the singular destinies of characters struggling w ith the consequences of the great events of their times.

● Bonaparte’s Irish Man ● Where do the sw allow s go in w inter? ● The Game of Golden Skittles ● Stalin’s Trumpet player ● A season of granit

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


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HISTORICAL NOVELS

BONAPARTE’S IRISH MAN Roger Faligot

The fantastic and authentic story of General Kilmaine, the Irishman w ho w ould become the friend and right hand man of the young General Bonaparte. A colorful fresco of a romantic period, w hen young people of many nations joined the French armies to fight for their ideal of liberty. England, Ireland, Italy: in Kilmaine’s destiny one discovers the post-revolutionary Europe.

464 p ages 26 Ju ne 2014

The d estiny of Kilm aine – w hom Stend hal nicknam ed “the brave Kilm aine” – w as ind eed a singu lar one. Born in Du blin in 1751, he w as th e son of Catholic Jacobins w ho sou ght refu ge from British p ersecu tion in France. Throu ghou t his life, from the Revolu tion to the Em p ire, he w ould be a m ajor figu re on every m ilitary stage. Barely saving his neck from the gu illotine d u ring the Terror, this fierce opp onent of the English joined the French secret service in ord er to help W olfe Tone and the Irish rebels. Faithfu l to Bonap arte, he took his p lace at the head of the arm y of Italy and w as then nam ed com m and er in chief of the arm y of England . From then on, the tw o m en shared an u nd ying friend ship that w ou ld w ithstand battles and p olitical intrigu es. th

Sid e by sid e they then p lanned the coup d’état of the 18 of Bru m aire. As the head of the Em p eror’s Secret Bu reau said , “Kilm aine w as the only m an in w hom N apoleon p laced com p lete and u tter confid ence.” Roger Faligot has w ritten abou t 40 w orks, m ost of them d ealing w ith the hid d en sid e of H istory. Fascinated w ith langu ages, he avid ly p u rsu es the investigation of international su bjects. H is recent books inclu d e Histoire secrète de e la V République (La Décou verte, 2006 -over 50,000 cop ies sold ) and La Rose et l’Edelweiss, Ces ados qui combattaient le nazisme (La Décou verte, 2009). H e is also the au thor of Les Sept Portes du monde, a novel abou t the first m an to have m ad e the overland trip arou nd the entire globe (7,000 cop ies sold , Plon, 2010).

WHERE DO THE SWALLOWS GO IN WINTER? Pierre Rival

Fleeing the USSR in 1945, young Tania is determined to cross a Europe in ruins, land of all dangers. But can one escape the clutches of Stalin? The tragic and supremely romantic destiny of a young w oman w ho succeeds in surviving in a w orld w here dangers of all kinds are omnipresent.

256 p ages 15 May 2014

21 Ju ne 1941, Germ any attacks the Soviet Union. Tania, 18, is living in Mosco w . On th October 11 , u nd er the threat of Germ an invasion, the governm ent has tem p orarily aband oned the cap itol, p rovoking the beginning of an exod u s. In this ap ocalyp tic atm osp here, Tania’s m other reveals to her d au ghter the secret of her origins: her biological father is a banker w ho w as forced to flee Ru ssia for Paris in 1917, d u ring the Revolu tion. H e is still alive. At the sam e tim e, a d ecree of general m obilisation is annou nced . To escap e this H ell, she asks a com rad e to shoot her in the shou ld er.

Rep atriated to Moscow , she falls in love with Em ile, a Frenchm an, a p ilot of the Norm and ie -N iem en brigad e. Em ile op p oses the ord ers and d ecid es to m arry his «fiancée», requesting au tho -rization to leave for France w ith Tania, w ho d ream s of find ing her real father. Within the changing bord ers of the Soviet Union and Poland , arm ed band s of nationalists are fighting the Red Arm y. Tania is su d d enly su m moned by the N KVD. She is offered a choice — either becom e a Soviet agent in France, or see her mother become the object of m erciless rep ression. In reality, Tania has no choice bu t to accep t their p roposal. Pierre Rival is a w riter and jou rnalist, the au thor of several novels, inclu d ing Pour l’honneur d’une belle and A limentation générale (Flamm arion 2006 et 2007).

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


18

HISTORICAL NOVELS

THE GAME OF GOLDEN SKITTLES Jean-Pierre Fournier La Touraille

Paris, N ovember 1793: sensing that Robespierre is about to have him eliminated, Hébert, one of the most extremist of revolutionaries, decides to free the D auphin from the Temple w ith the complicity of the royalists.

480 p ages 6 March 2014

Du ring this p eriod of the Terror, as the revolu tionary Tribu nal cond em ns left and right, everyone know s the p ow er stru ggle is a fight to the d eath. Determ ined to m aintain his p lace at the center of events, Hébert, ed itor of Père Duchesne, the new sp ap er p opu lar w ith the Sans Culottes, m ultip lies his attacks against the Incorru p tible and the Com m ittee of Pu blic Safety. But Robesp ierre is still more p owerfu l. Sensing that he is abou t to lose, H ébert secretly agrees to help a tiny grou p of royalists bent on saving the Dau p hin, w ho is im p risoned in the Tem p le. Their u ltim ate goal is to take the child to Sp ain and organize the reconquest of France.

Bu t another p lot to liberate the Dau p hin is sim u ltaneou sly being p lanned , the brainchild of tw o liberal gentlem en from Au vergne. Their plan is insp ired by hu m an kind ness rather than any p olitical calcu lations, their intent sim p ly to free the u nhap p y child from his cell. As a sign of recognition am ong them selves, the p articip ants m u st each p resent a sm all gold ninep in, a p iece from the skittles gam e the Dau p hin p layed w ith at Versailles. Bu t betw een the Rep u blicans, the reform ing royalists and the Ultras, it w ill be a d icey gam e. In this tangle of u nholy alliances, none of them has any scru p les abou t betraying another.

Jean-Pierre Fournier La Touraille is the au thor of a novel abou t John the Posthum ou s, Le Troisième Prétendant (De Borée 2002). H e is also the biograp her of Hudson Lowe, le geôlier de Bonaparte (Perrin, 2005). Rich in new inform ation, research on Le Jeu de quilles en or took him five years to comp lete.

STALIN’S TRUMPET PLAYER Patrick Anidjar

The tragic fate of Eddie Grynberg, Stalin’s favourite jazz trumpet-player.

416 p ages 6 Febru ary 2014

A Parisian jou rnalist, at fifty, Gabriel Linhard t loves jazz and som etim es p erform s in the bars of the cap ital in his off hours. One d ay, he receives a letter from an attorney in N ew York that w ill tu rn his life up side-d ow n. An old u ncle, living in N ew York and now on his d eathbed , asks to see him . For this only child , w hose family consists of ju st his p arents the shock is enorm ou s. In N ew York, Gabriel learns that he w as ad op ted , and that his father w as in fact the great Ru ssian jazz tru m p eter, Ed ou ard “Ed d ie” Grynberg. H is m other w as a d ancer, Elsa, and the tw o Jew ish artists p erform ed in Paris and in Moscow , w here they finally took refu ge from the N azis. Ed d ie Grynberg p lays for the Soviet u p p er cru st, inclu d ing Stalin u ntil the d ay w hen Jd anov relegated «Am erican» jazz to the d u stbin of degenerate art.

In a nightm are scenario, Elsa w as sw allow ed u p into the cellars of the N KVD, w hile Grynberg w as sent to the gu lag. Incap able of going on w ithou t Elsa, Ed d ie let him self d ie after having given his only p rop erty —a tru m p et engraved w ith an inscrip tion in H ebrew —to an Ukranian p risoner w ith w hom he had becom e friend s, begging him to sw ear he w ou ld find Elsa and the child she had brou ght into the w orld , so that he w ou ld receive his m eager inheritance. Corresp ond ent of AFP new s agency in Eu rop e, the Mid d le East, and the United States, Patrick Anidjar is the au thor of an essay on Iran’s nu clear asp irations (La Bombe iranienne, Ed itions d u Seuil, 2008). H e is cu rrently an assistant ed itor in chief at the AFP and lives in Paris.

Large excerpts available in English

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


19

HISTORICAL NOVELS

A SEASON OF GRANIT Florian Ferrier

1943. Léonie, 16, lives w ith her beautiful and haughty mother, w ho openly despises her, on an island in the Atlantic occupied by the Germans. A young w oman cannot survive w ith a mother w ho detests her, so Léonie must find the reason for this h atred, hidden somew here on the island. France, 1943. Sainte-Kristen Island , ju st off the Breton coast, w here Léonie’s m other ru ns the local inn, is occu p ied by the Germ ans. The girl’s stay at board ing school in Brest w as interru p ted w hen the Allies bom bed the city, com p elling her to retu rn hom e to her p arents on the island . For her, going 288 pages hom e to a m other w ho d esp ises her is a nightm are. Every d ay, this 2015 beau tifu l and hau ghty w om an su bjects Léonie to harassm ent and hu m iliation, d em onstrating her im m ense contem p t for her hu sband , an u nassu m ing m an w ho w as m u tilated in the Great War, as w ell. Léonie know s the reason for her m other’s hatred is bu ried som ew here on this little island , and she sp end s her d ays w and ering over it, at once escap ing her m other’s m alevolence and searching for the roots of her behavior.

But this is not w ithout risk, for the British m ainland is quite close, and , as tim e goes on, m ore spies are sent to the island , heightening both the suspicions of the Germ an occupying forces and their increasingly harsh treatm ent of the locals. Inevitably, in her w and erings, Léonie runs into And rew , a young English parachutist w ashed up on Sainte-Kristen in disastrous circum stances. Determ ined to hid e him, Leonie m ust explore Florian has cranny w orked of forthe Gauisland m ont television’s ation stu d ios. au thorproclivities of several TV every Ferrier nook and and figure anim out the ind ivid ualThe political of series, Magnard jeu nesse p u blished his N aotak trilogy in 2003/ 2005, follow ed by Le Seu il’s the inhabitants, and in so d oing she uncovers a num ber of unexpected secrets. p u blication of L’ange de Saint Privat and Ile fantôme pour âmes perdues in 2007/ 2009. At Sarbacane, he w rote the scenario of Hôtel étrange, a you th cartoon strip that w as aw ard ed a p rize at the Angou lêm e festival. Cu rrently a storyboard d irector at Toonfactory, Plon has p u blished tw o of his novels for you ng ad u lts, Créatures (Ju ne 2011) and Le huitième continent (Ju ne 2012), a finalist for the p restigiou s Prix d es Incorru p tibles. H e lives in Angou lêm e.

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


TESTIMONIES


21

TESTIMONIES

I WAS IN HELL Fayza D.

10.000 copies sold Rights sold to:

180 pages 17 October 2013

The Netherlands : Van Gennep

Poland : Proszynski

Turkey : Bora Yasar .

The first personal account of a young, 19-year-old Syrian, in the heart of the inferno that is the Assad regime. In her p oignant d escrip tion, Fayza p lu nges the read er into recent Syrian history, elbow to elbow w ith a p eop le w ho have been tram p led on and forced into the statu s of refu gees. N ot once d oes she give u p the stru ggle. “I am 19 years old, and I feel as though I have lived a thousand lives. M y current life will no doubt end in a few days. I will go to roam over the vast expanse of the Bekaa plane I can see beneath my window, M ohamed will find us a tent for shelter. I will join my family, who crowd together under a burning sun. I’ll get used to it. One always gets used to everything, as long as one is still alive. I am fighting to stay alive… .” Fayza w as born in Zabad ani, a sm all tow n abou t sixty kilom eters from Dam ascu s. As a child , she stu d ied «the p rincip les of Baas» at school and w itnessed the atrocities the regim e of the Assad s com m itted against her p eop le. She took to the street w ith the first d em onstrations, d em and ing ju stice for Deraa and freed om for all. She saw her father, a m inor civil servant gu ilty of nothing, retu rn from p rison broken by tortu re, transform ed into a d om estic tyrant w ho threatened her w ith a crim e of honor. She listened as her fiancé told her of nightm arish visions in the sam e p risons. She fled w hen her city w as razed by the Syrian arm y. Like tw o m illion Syrians, she w as com p elled to take to the road w hen her w orld collap sed . Tod ay, Fayza lives in a refu gee cam p in Lebanon. One d ay, she says, she w ill be a d octor. That is, if she su rvives. Fayza, 19, fled Syria and lives tod ay in a refu gee cam p in Lebanon.

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


22

TESTIMONIES

MY BODY BELONGS TO ME Amina Sboui

The story of Amina, who became famous when she posted a bare-breasted photo of herself bearing the inscription “My body belongs to me” on Facebook.

Rights sold to:

180 pages 27 February 2014

Italy : Giunti

Turkey : Bora Yasar .

Am ina, a you ng Tu nisian of 19, m ad e head lines w orld w id e last March 1st w hen she p osted a p hoto of herself, breasts bare, on social netw orks, w ith the inscrip tion « My bod y belongs to m e”, thu s d em and ing her freed om in a cou ntry w here the rights of w om en are increasingly flou ted by the Islam ists. It w as a gestu re that nearly got her killed and led to sequ estration by her fam ily and the op p robriu m of society —inclu d ing p rop er Tu nisian society consid ered p rogressive—and , u ltim ately, p rison. She claim ed her ad herence to Fem en. Scand al in Tu nis. She left the Fem en m ovem ent. Scand al in Paris, w here she resid es tod ay. Going back to her child hood , she d escribes the m ilieu in w hich she grew u p , w here her fem inist stru ggle first took root. The story of a you ng w om an w hose ord eal forces ou r resp ect and , throu gh her, the story of all w om en w ho are com p elled to fight to live accord ing to their ow n valu es. A p ow erfu l and m oving narrative bu t also, in her ow n w ord s, one “fu ll of black hu m or and w ithou t any w hinging”.

H aving fled her cou ntry, tod ay Amina Sboui, 19, lives in Paris. M on corps m’appartient is her first book.

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


23

TESTIMONIES

PHYSICIAN AND CATHOLIC, I PRACTICE EUTHANASIA Corinne Van Oost

The exclusive story of a woman doctor, a committed Christian, who, in the name of her faith, practices euthanasia on patients who request it (in Belgium). An original reflection on the place of the care giver, its strengths and weaknesses, when confronting powerlessness and death.

208 pages 11 Septem ber 2014

From its very origins, Christians have been on the front lines of the d efense of an end to life w ith d ignity and m obilized against eu thanasia. Corinne Van Oost, a com m itted Catholic and p alliative care p hysician in Belgiu m , sees things d ifferently. While she w as against the law p erm itting this choice w hen it w as p rom u lgated a d ecad e ago, it is in the nam e of her faith that she now accep ts to p ractice eu thanasia on p atients w ho ask her to. “I’m tired of hearing Catholic d octors exp lain that, becau se of their faith, they refu se to p ractice eu thanasia. For m yself, w hen I am absolu tely convinced that I can d o nothing m ore to relieve the p atient’s p ain, I feel I d o not have the right to hid e behind m y faith in ord er to escap e this act. The person I am facing has priority over my convictions!” Basing her actions on the com m itm ent she exp resses every d ay at the hosp ital and u p on her reflections in searching for the «lesser evil», tod ay she seeks to institu te a ritu al to allow the Chu rch to be p resent, accom p anying the p atient w ho is going throu gh this new hu m an exp erience of a d eath that is anticip ated and taken in hand . This cannot fail to trigger som e reactions of ou trage. This is a u niqu e and ed ifying narrative, the fru it of a long and thou g htfu l hu m an and sp iritu al d evelop m ent. A d octor of p alliative care at the clinic of Ottignies (in francop hone Belgiu m ) and the m oving force behind a netw ork of at-hom e p alliative care in the region, Corinne Van Oost, a com m itted Catholic (of the nouvelle Fondacio) is 47 and the m other of three child ren.

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


ESSAYS


25

ESSAYS

THE BEAR DOES NOT THE PHILOSOPHER A Philosophical Primer of the Superficial Sophie Chassat

As a philosopher, Sophie Chassat explores the depths of the superficial in this humorous little précis, as informal as it is entertaining.

196 pages 6 N ovem ber 2014

When p hilosop hy takes on w hat seem s to be its very contrary—the su p erficial—an entire longu nsu sp ected u niverse of m eaning op ens u p to u s, revealing itself throu gh the m ost everyd ay and u nju stly scorned attitu d es, interests, and objects. Like the accessory, the futile, or the frivolous, the superfluous tu rns ou t to be «a very necessary thing», accord ing to Voltaire. The amateur w ittily transform s his casualness, his aimless strolling and his idleness to his ad vantage; appearances are no m ore rep rehensible than coquetry, make-up, or flightiness; p raise of the anecdotal, of fashion, of blabla, or of trifles becom es p ossible; sticking to the surface w hile favoring the froth, the sketchy outline, and the fragmentary are signs of a w isd om that has learned to be w ary of the seriou s m ind . Sop hie Chassat exp lores the depths of the superficial, from u np u blished texts and rep u blished p ieces, in p articu lar from her w eekly colu m n of Le Journal Le M onde.

A grégé in p hilosop hy, Sophie Chassat, 36, tau ght at the lycée and u niversity level for seven years before becom ing a p rod u cer at France Culture rad io. She is now an ind ep end ent p hilosop hical consu ltant in bu siness and has her ow n w eekly colu m n on the Le Journal Le M onde w ebsite.

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


26

ESSAYS

THE DISINHERITED, or the Compelling Need to Pass On François-Xavier Bellamy

Fifty years after Pierre Bourdieu’s Les

Héritiers : les étudiants et la culture,

François-Xavier Bellamy arrives at the alarming conclusion of a rupture between generations, the one refusing to transmit its knowledge and its heritage to the other, thus compromising the foundations and the future of our society. 204 pages 28 August 2014

Fifty years after Pierre Bou rd ieu ’s Les Héritiers : les étudiants et la culture, p u blished in 1964, François-Xavier Bellam y acknow led ges the follow ing state of affairs: w e still w ish to ed u cate, bu t w e no longer w ish to p ass on. This crisis of cu ltu re is not the resu lt of a p roblem of m eans, financing, or m anagem ent. A u niqu e p henom enon has occu rred in Western society, a b reak never before exp erienced , in w hich one generation refu ses to transm it to the follow ing all it has to offer, the w hole of its know led ge, its reference p oints, the hu m an exp erience that constitu tes its heritage. In this w ork, the au thor seeks the m eans to reconstru ct this d ialogu e of generations and traces the p ath that w ill avoid the d estitu tion of a generation that cries ou t its w ill to live.

François-Xavier Bellamy hold s an agrégation in p hilosop hy and is a frequ ent com m entator in the French p ress w ith a regu lar colu m n in Le Figaro.

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


27

ESSAYS

OBSTINACY

Myriam Revault d’Allonnes, Adèle Van Reeth A philosophical exploration of obstinacy w ith one of the finest specialists in moral philosophy.

208pages 23 October 2014

”This is w hat happens to obstinate child ren”, as the song goes, professing a m oral m essage that cond em ns the absurd stubbornness of those wh o listen to no other voice than their ow n. But w hat w ould art be w ithout the obstinacy of the artist w ho believes in w hat he creates, d espite the criticism of the over -conservative? What w ould becom e of politics w ithout the courage to buck the prevalent trend and the perseverance that prevents one from giving up? Contrary to the courage, w hich is often only a bright flash that im m ed iately fad es, obstinacy traces a stead fast and lasting line. While the rash may take their d reams for reality, the obstinate has his head on his should ers and his feet on the ground , confronting the obstacles in his path one by one. Combining d eterm ination and a w ill against all od d s, obstinacy perm its one to stay the course w hen all around him found ers and to rem ain stead y in tim es of crisis.

A philosopher specializing in the ord inary and in cinem a, Adèle Van Reeth is the prod ucer and host of “Nouveaux Chemins de la connaissance”, a daily program m e on philosophy on radio. A specialist of moral and political philosophy, Myriam Revault d’Allonnes is a professor at EHESS and an associate researcher at Sciences Po. She w rites La crise sans fin, essai sur l’expérience moderne du temps (Seuil, 2012), Pourquoi nous n’aimons pas la démocratie ? (Seuil, 2010) and L’Homme compassionnel (Seuil, 2008).

WICKEDNESS

Michaël Foessel, Adèle Van Reeth A philosophical examination of w ickedness throughout time, w ith Michaël Fœ ssel, one of the finest philosophers of his generation. Part of a collection designed to explore human passions. Why are w e w icked , nasty, spiteful? Is w icked ness a w eakness of character, or is it a moral intention? Does one d o w rong on purpose? In this exam ination of w icked ness tod ay, the author attem pts to und erstand the hum an traged ies of history, but also to untangle the m echanism s that lead to the perpetuation of evil in our society. Michaël Fœssel is one of th e most brilliant philosophers of his generation and has extensively explored the question of evil in morality and in politics. In this exam ination of w ickedness from Antiquity to the present day, he helps the read er elucid ate that w hich, m ore than a feeling, is a contem porary evil, and easier to com prehend than one m ight imagine. 156 p ages 28 May 2014

A philosopher w hose specialties are the ord inary and cinema, Adèle Van Reeth prod uces and hosts «Les N ouveaux chem ins d e la connaissance”, France Culture rad io’s daily program m e w hose them e is philosophy. She is also a chronicler for the Canal Plus Cinema television program m e, “Le Cercle”.

Michaël Fœ ssel is a lecturer in philosophy at the Université de Bourgogne and at the Institut catholique de Paris and has just been nam ed to the chair of philosophy at the Ecole Polytechnique. A specialist in Germ an philosophy and in political philosophy, his w orks includ e L’A nthologie Paul Ricœur (Points Seuil, 2007), La privation de l’intime (Seuil, 2008), État de vigilance (Le bord d e l’eau, 2010), and A près la fin du monde (Seuil, 2012).

In the same collection : La jouissance Ad èle Van Reeth et Jean -Lu c N ancy Pu blished in March 2013 144 p ages

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


DICTIONARY FOR LOVERS


29

DICTIONARY FOR LOVERS What is “A Dict ionary for Lov ers of…? It is the passionate encounter of a w riter w ith his most delectable subject. “A Dict ionary for Lov ers of…” is the necessary - and sometimes astonishing – encounter betw een an author and a subject. Cocteau used to say: “a literary masterpiece is nothing more than a dictionary in disorder.” Read all these authors and you w ill realize that they have each succeeded in making the w ord “masterpiece” rhyme w ith “alphabetical order”.

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


30

DICTIONARY FOR LOVERS

DICTIONARY FOR MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART Pierre Nahon

Guided by both fancy and freedom of choice, Pierre Nahon shares with us the passion of his life in an anthology of emotion, curiosities, memories and reflections. Informative, witty, and breathtakingly surprising, this book is the mirror of an art dealer who dreamed of a life and succeeded in making it his own.

948 pages 2 October 2014

One cannot celebrate this or that artist or w ork of art w hile forgetting all the oth ers. Alp habetical ord er serves to im pose a stru ctu re on this grand d isord er vagu ely exp ressed am ong the troop s of Dad aism , abstraction, su rrealism , exp ressionism , p op art, new realism , or concep tu al art. Betw een contemp orary art and m od ern art, w hat p recisely is the d ifference? Paintings, scu lp tu res, p hotos, staged p resentations that are at the very least heteroclite, or even ep hem eral, w orks d estined to am u se—can one still call all this art? And yet, never before have w e seen su ch an abu nd ance of artists, never so m any biennials, fairs, exhibitions, and galleries, and so vast and avid a p u blic. It is too sim ple to say that the art w orld is in a state of confu sion, for in m any resp ects, it is d oing qu ite w ell. The cu rved lines of Bernar Venet, Jean -Pierre Raynau d ’s squ ares, the accu mu lations of Arm an, Bu ren’s strip es, César’s com p ressions, and And y Warhol’s Marilyns are obviou sly p art of this gigantic contem p orary p and em oniu m. Several p ortraits (am ong them those of legend ary art d ealers Du rand -Ru el, Vollard , Kahnw eiler, Maeght and others) as w ell as the au thor’s p ertinent com m ents offered at rand om in scarcely conventional entries su ch as criticism , aesthetics, sp ecu lation, tru th, d ecad ence, or trend s m ake this d ictionary for lovers the essential m anu al that has been lacking for an u nd erstand ing of the w orld of art here and now .

Art d ealer of the new realists—Arm an, César, Klein, Sp oerri, Tingu ely--, bu t also of Dad o, Du fou r, Klossow ski, Com bas, Pierre N ahon has show n the w orks of Basqu iat, Beu ys, Dine, Du cham p , Segal, Stella, and Warhol at the Galerie Beau bou rg, in Paris or in Vence at the château N otre-Dam e-d esFleu rs.

In the same series:

45 000 copies sold

30 000 copies sold

16 000 copies sold

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


31

DICTIONARY FOR LOVERS

v

DICTIONARY FOR PIANO LOVERS Olivier Bellamy

A book that intends to inform, with humor, but which, in the final analysis, is the story of a passion that seeks only to be shared.

800 pages 4 September 2014

A book that intends to inform, with humor, but which, in the final analysis, is the story of a passion that seeks only to be shared. This is the book of an entire lifetim e d evoted to the m ysteries of the m ost p arad oxical, the m ost basic, and the m ost solitary of m u sical instru m ents. Of the first shrill and singsong sou nd s I heard in m y m other’s w om b to m y first scales on the fam ily Pleyel. Of the thou sand s of hou rs sp ent listening to record s, trying to u nd erstand how great, p rop hetic m ad m en m anaged to recreate a w orld throu gh Schu ber t’s Impromptus or Debu ssy’s Préludes. All the w ay to all of these encou nters, throu ghou t the w orld , w ith these strange anim als called p ianists, w ho live a thou sand lives throu gh a fantastic rep ertoire, a p rod igiou s literatu re, w ithou t actu ally lead ing one. From A, as in «Accord » to Z as in «Zu t», the read er is allow ed access into the p rivate lives of Chop in, Liszt, Cortot, Ru binstein, H orow itz, and Gou ld , nonetheless never m issing ou t on thou ghts abou t criticism , teachers, techniqu e, tone, and entries o n «cinem a”, the “left hand ”», or “blind ” p ianists. Olivier Bellamy hosts a d aily rad io p rogram m e w ith a listening au d ience of several hu nd red thou sand s. H e is the au thor of the sole biograp hy of Martha Argerich (M artha A rgerich, l’enfant des sortilèges, Chastel, 2010), translated in arou nd tw enty cou ntries, inclu d ing Jap an and China, and of several books and television d ocu m entaries on m u sic.

In the same series:

25 000 copies sold

70 000 copies sold

150 000 copies sold

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


32

BESTSELLERS

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


33

BESTSELLERS

HIMMLER Through his correspondence with his wife (1927-1945)

  Italy : Newton & Compton    Germany : Piper   Spain : Taurus   The Netherlands : Atlas  Contact  English : St Martin’s Press  

Rights sold to :

350 pages 20 February 2014

Poland : Proszynski Czech Republic : Triton Portugal : Bertrand Finland : Minerva Russia : Centropolygraph Brazil : Record China : Shanghai Literature & Art Hungary : Kossuth

An intimate portrait of Heinrich Himmler, dreaded chief of the SS, as seen through his unpublished correspondence with his wife Marga, between 1927 and 1945. A historic document of exceptional interest. For a long tim e, the letters H einrich H im m ler w rote to his w ife Marga w ere assu m ed to have been long lost, along w ith other d ocu m ents belonging to the Reichsfü hrer SS. Bu t, strangely, sixty years after his cap tu re by British troop s and su bsequ ent su icid e, his p art of their shared corresp ond ence tu rned u p in Tel Aviv, Israel. The p erfect com p lem ent to Marga’s letters, w hich are stored in archives in Coblenz, they p rovid e an original sou rce revealing the p rivate life of one of the m ost im p ortant and u nivers ally d am ned m em bers of the N azi regim e. Su ch a w ealth of p ersonal d ocu m ents exists for no other N azi chief. Until the d iscovery of this treasu re of m issives, it w as generally held that, once ap p ointed head of the SS, H im m ler blend ed into the N azi hierarch y—one m ore of a kind . Bu t the im age that th em erges from the letters of one of the 20 centu ry’s m ost notoriou s crim inals is som ew hat su btler. This w as a m an w hose observations w ere often m arked by their banality, a vain m an w ho vacillated betw een attention tow ard s his fam ily and a form al d istance, one w ho sou ght to achieve the im p ossible balance of a harm oniou s fam ily life, all the w hile obsessed w ith his d aily task of overseeing the p ersecu tion and exterm ination of m asses of p op u lation consid ered non -Aryan and of those w ho op p osed the regim e. This original corresp ond ence of H im m ler, p u blished here for the first tim e, confirm s his role as the great organizer of the Final Solu tion and a m an w ho w as m u ch closer to H itler than m any historians p reviou sly ju d ged him to be. Katrin Himmler is H einrich H im m ler’s great-niece and a w riter and p olitical analyst, the au thor of Les Frères Himmler, histoire d’une famille allemande (David Reinarc, 2012). Michael Wildt is a p rofessor of 20th centu ry Germ an history and teaches at Berlin’s H u m bold t University. An internationally recognized sp ecialist.on N aziism , he has w ritten several stu d ies and w orks that are consid ered references on the su bject.

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


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BESTSELLERS

FROM MY LAND TO THE EARTH

Rights sold to 8 countries: 

Italy and UK : Contrasto 

Brazil: Companhia das Letras Korea: Sobitkil

180 pages 5 September 2013

Taiwan: Ecu

Spain : La Fabrica

Portugal : Caracter 

Russia : Ripol

The exclusive reflections of Sebastião Salgado, one of the greatest photographers alive today, on his militant commitment to the preservation of the planet. A hymn to nature, beauty, and the beauty of nature. Sebastião Salgad o’s p hotograp hs are fam ou s w orld w id e. H is black and w hite p hotos, his p ortraits of the anonym ou s, esp ecially w orkers or refu gees, ar e renow ned for their incand escent u se of light, their p ow er, and the natu ral d ignity their su bjects exp ress. In 2013, after eight years of rep ortage, he p u t together a show w ith “Genesis”, a series of exhibitions in Eu rop e, Brazil, Canad a and the United St ates featu ring p laces on the p lanet that still rem ain u ntainted by ind u strialization. A hym n to natu re. H is land scap es, his p ortraits of anim als, of m en and w om en w ho live far from m od ern civilisation alw ays evoke the sam e m oving hu m anism . In this book, Sebastião Salgad o talks for the first tim e abou t his m ilitant com m itm ent and his convictions as a p hotograp her, not w ith im ages, bu t w ith w ord s. Reliving the history of his p hoto-rep ortages in over a hu nd red cou ntries and his p ersonal history, w e follow him from Brazil to Paris w here he created the Am azonas Im ages agency w ith his w ife, Lélia Wanick Salgad o. H e tells of their w ork on long-term rep ortages that covered years, becom ing the su bject of exhibitions, books, and p u blications in the international p res s, and of his love for p hotograp hy. H e takes u s on a jou rney covering the w orld he crisscrosses over and over again, to contem p late, to u nd erstand , and to reveal his reflections Born in Brazil in 1944, Sebastião Salgado lives in Paris. With a d egree in econom ics, he w orked at the Organisation international d u café before becom ing a p hotograp her. Mem ber of Sygm a, Gam m a and then Magnu m p hoto agencies, he fou nd ed Am azonas Im a ges in 1994 w ith his w ife, Lélia Wanick Salgad o. Together, they also created the Terra fou nd ation, d evoted to rep lanting the Brazilian forest.

Next countries where Salgado’s exhibition “Genesis” is to be presented: Sweden, Spain, Italy, Brazil, USA, Korea, Germany and China

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


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BESTSELLERS

DICTIONARY OF THE IMPOSSIBLE 50.000 copies sold Didier van Cauwelaert offers a panorama of the most amazing phenomena, facts that seem at first glance logically impossible and yet have an explanation, backed up by scientific proof.

400 pages 17 October 2013

A chick that attracts a robot solely u sing the p ow er of thou ght. A host that levitates d u ring a televised Mass. A tree that m oves, entirely on its ow n p ow er. A m achine cap able of conversing w ith insects. A m ilitary m an w ho creates a d etailed p ictu re of a s ecretly-constru cted enem y su bm arine that is ten thou sand kilom etres aw ay. A m em ber of the Resistance w ho escap es talking u nd er N azi tortu re by p racticing bilocation. A p riori, all these things seem im p ossible, and yet all of them , and others the au thor p re sents in this u nu su al d ictionary, have been observed , d escribed , and au thenticated by tru stw orthy ind ivid u als, scientific researchers equ ip p ed w ith instru m ents to m easu re them . Did ier van Cau w elaert p u shes back the lim its of the u nim aginable from A to Z. From the p sychic p ow ers of the bee to the rational fabrication of zom bies, from A as in Aband on (victory by) to Z as in Zola (the d ou ble m iracle inflicted u p on Em ile), w ith d iscernm ent and cu riosity, he joyou sly offers the read er the op p ortu nity to vastly exp and the realm of things p ossible. And his exp loration of these am azing p henom ena changes ou r p ercep tion of ou rselves and all that su rrou nd s u s, encou rages ou r re-enchantm ent w ith the w orld , w hile exp loring its behind -thescenes asp ects w here, ju st behin d the cu rtain, crafty schem es, d isinform ation, m ental m anip u lation, selective p ercep tion, consp iracies of silence, and d eliberate blu ffing reign su p rem e. D idier van Cauw elaert’s p op u larity has grow n w ith every su ccessive literary p rize he has earned . Prix Del Duca for his first novel in 1982, Prix Goncourt and Prix N imier for Un aller simple in 1994, he is also the lau reate of the Prix Science de la V ulgarisation Scientifique for his w ork L’A pparition in 2002. H is latest novel is La Femme de nos vies (Albin Michel, 2013).

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


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BESTSELLERS

CREATIVE DESTRUCTION 30.000 copies sold Luc Ferry claims that what will save us is not declining growth but innovation. Even if it is a destabilizing factor, even if it can be terrific and, at the same time, destructive. Innovation is at once vital and a source of anxiety; in a century of deconstruction, we must resolve this dilemma. 144 pages 15 May 2014

An actu al p hilosop hy hid es behind the w ord «innovation ”, a p hilosop hy w hich has taken hold am ong ou r p olitical lead ers. “What w ill save u s is not d eclining grow th, it is innovation. Even if it d estabilizes the w orld , even if it can be fantastic and , at the sam e tim e, d estru ctive. Gu tenberg d estroyed the livelihood of cop yists, bu t then he m ad e p ossible the creation of m illions of jobs in p rofessions linked to p rinting.” Innovation m ay be vital, bu t it is also a sou rce of anxiety, and this, accord ing to Ferry, is the d ilem m a France has not yet solved , in an era of d econstru ction (artistic, social, econom ic) su ch as Eu rop e has never before know n. In line w ith cu rrent trend s Lu c Ferry revisits the thou ght of Au strian econom ist Schu m p eter (1883-1950). This p rop het of innovation, w ho thou ght of the concep t of “creative d estru ction» (Ferry p refers to refer to “d estru ctive innovation”, a m ore op tim istic term ) rem ains top ical. Innovation as a d riving force behind grow th that rend ers all that is old obsolete. And w hich, w hen it d ies ou t, resu lts in a crisis, before once again becom ing d om inant, kick-starting the econom y for a new cycle. Thu s com p u ter technology w as a sou rce of exp ansion in the 1980s and 1990s. Tod ay, m any Schu m p eterians believe that the broad band d igital netw ork and its m anifestations herald the n ext cap italistic cycle. Philosop her, form er M inistre de l’Education nationale, Luc Ferry is the au thor of several best sellers, inclu d ing A pprendre à vivre (Plon, 2006), translated into 26 langu ages; La Sagesse des mythes (Plon, 2008), translated into 9 langu ages, and La Révolution de l’amour (Plon, 2010), translated into 5 langu ages.

Previous Titles:

370.000 copies sold in France

120.000 copies sold in France

Translated in 26 languages

Translated in 59 languages

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


37

BESTSELLERS

I’VE GONE ANOTHER WAY 55.000 copies sold Rights sold to : China : Guangzhou Shengya  Italy : RCS Libri  Portugal : Oficina do livro/Grupo Leya  Czech Republic: Paseka Publishing House  Taiwan: Titan Publishing HCo.  Germany: Spheres Verlag 

200 pages 15 novem ber 2012

The first narrative from a French autistic who has accepted to open the doors to his inner world. An intense and moving story by a brilliant man. Josef Shovanec’s m any ap p earances on television and his p articip ation in international conferences on au tism have insp ired great interest, bu t he has alw ays d eclined to tell the story of his life and the p ath he has taken in a book. Tod ay, he has accep ted ou r offer to d o so, hop ing, throu gh this accou nt, to d efend the cau se not only of the child ren, bu t also of m en and w om en w ho, in his w ord s, “live w ith au tism ”. H is is a story of the p ainfu l beginnings of a child w ho w as often beaten u p at recess, ignored later on by his classm ates at Sciences Po, and consid ered to be m entally retard ed by m any he encou ntered in d aily life. Beyond this d iscou raging facad e, Josef reveals his tru e p ersonality and allow s u s access to the m ysteriou s life of the brain and its interactions w ith the environm ent. This fascinating d escent into an u nknow n w orld also lets u s d iscover ou r ow n brains, as «neu rotyp ical» ind ivid u als w ho live and act in accord ance w ith w hat is consid ered norm al.

Josef Shovanec w as born in 1981, in the greater Paris area of em igrant p arents from Czechoslovakia. After chaotic beginnings at school, Josep h p assed his baccalau reate “C” (m aths and science) w ith the honorable m ention of “very good ”. Earning a d egree from Sciences -Po, Paris, he continu ed his acad em ic career at Langu es O w here he stu d ied H ebrew , Sanskrit, Persian, Am haric, Azeri, and Ethiop ian langu ages, ad d ing to his p erfect flu ency in Czech, Germ an, Finnish and the English he had learned earlier in school. At 19, the first p sychiatrist he encou ntered p u m p ed him fu ll of p ills, and he barely escap ed p sychiatric internm ent. This is w hen he began p sychoanalysis. Diagnosed «au tistic, w ith Asp erger’s synd rom e», he d iscard ed all treatm ents and began a slow ascension tow ard s the w orld of “norm al” p eop le. Tod ay, he continu es his lingu istic stu d ies and gives conferences on au tism . H e hold s a p art -tim e p osition as an assistant to the Mayor of Paris’s d ep u ty in charge of the hand icap p ed .

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


38

BESTSELLERS

DICTIONARY FOR LOVERS OF MARCEL PROUST 35.000 copies sold Winner of the Femina Prize 2013

736 pages 29 August 2013

“A treat, of references and reverence written with the grace of profound familiarity and the rigor of an investigation”. Le Point “A sparkling comprehensive survey”. La Parisienne “Erudite, witty, scholarly, entertaining”. Madame Figaro “Jean-Paul and Raphael Enthoven illustrate the many ways one can read la Recherche and the joy of delving into it once again”. Le Monde For each entry, the au thors have also d ecid ed to refrain fro m going over once again the classic asp ects of Prou stism (several ad m irably com p lete d ictionaries alread y exist w hich ad d ress the su bject) bu t to p oint ou t the bizarre things, the “angles”, the heretofore u ncom m ented “cu riosa”. From “A as in Agony” to “Z as in Zined ine d e Gu erm antes”, from “Datu ra” to “Rhinogom énol” and “Kabbale” to “Asp aragu s”, from “Plotin” to “Schop enhau er” or “Walter Benjam in”, they obviou sly enjoy d iscu ssing Prou st, w hom both have alw ays revered , in term s of his biograp hy as m u ch as his literary geniu s, and each of their reflections ad d s to the fascinating su bstance of their text. Those w ho are Prou stians at heart w ill be am p ly satisfied , as w ill intellectu al Prou stians. Several extracts of corresp ond ence and of the actu al w orks are r ep rinted in this m ischievou s and eru d ite d ictionary for lovers, a w ork as scholarly as it is am u sing. Jean-Paul Enthoven is a w riter, ed itor, and literary colu m nist at Le Point. Am ong his p u blished w orks are tw o essays (Les Enfants de Saturne and La Dernière Femme) and three novels (A urore, Ce que nous avons eu de meilleur and L’Hypothèse des sentiments). Raphaël Enthoven stu d ied at the Ecole N ormale Supérieure and hold s an agrégation in p hilosop hy. Professor, p rod u cer of the p rogram m e “Le Gai Savoir” on France-Culture rad io, he is the au thor of L’Endroit du décor and Le Philosophe de service et autres textes (Gallim ard ) and Un jeu d’enfant (Fayard ). H is m ost recent w ork is M atière première (Gallim ard , 2013).

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


39

BESTSELLERS

I MARRIED A JERK 100.000 copies sold !

Film currently in shooting Rights sold to : 

Korea : Munhakdongne Publishing Co.

230 pages 15 May 2008

It takes one to marry one, as the adventures of Pépita and Roméo reveal. A normal woman, (that is, one idiot enough to believe in the myth of conjugal bliss) wakes up one day to find herself playing Martha in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” A fan of Lacan, bu t one w ho never m isses an issu e of V oici, Pép ita is charm ing, socially savvy in a Saint-Germ ain-d es-Prés/ Saint-Trop ez kind of w ay, and crazy. Crazy abou t love and crazy abou t Rom éo, a gold en boy bu t not exactly a jet setter, w ho find s he r attractive, bu t, w ell, he’s not really looking for…. You know the story, tw o u nattached electrons m u tu ally attract and , at first, have nothing sp ecial in m ind and then, su d d enly, w ell, w hy not get m arried ? Bu t, w hat to d o w hen you w ant everything, like love and freed om , sex and p regnancy, a fam ily life bu t not the d old ru m s of the d aily? A m an, a real one. A w om an w ith a m an’s brain and the bod y of N icole Kid m an. Pép ita’s and Rom éo’s hilariou sly u nrealistic exp ectations w ill m ake you lau gh ru efu lly as their d aily life follow s the scrip t from hell. J’ai épousé un con is every w om an’s story becau se every w om an, at one tim e or another, has thou ght, «Who is this schm u ck? I m arried a jerk!» And every m an has answ ered this u nsp oken thou ght w ith, “She m ay th ink she m arried a jerk, bu t I m arried a certifiable hysteric!” Go ahead , op en the book, tu rn the p age! You ’re in there too, it’s gu aranteed !

Agnès Bouquet is thirty-som ething and lives in Paris. She is a jou rnalist at France-Soir and Le Parisien and a screenw riter. J’ai épousé un con is her first w ork.

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


40

BESTSELLERS

CARTIER-BRESSON THE EYE OF THE CENTURY

30.000 copies sold Rights sold to :

October 1999 348 pages

 Brazil: L&PM Editores  China: Zheijiang Photographic Press  Korea: Eulyoo  Germany: Gerhard Steidl Verlag  Spain: Nueva Galaxia Gutenberg  Great Britain: Thames & Hudson  Italy: Photology  Turkey: Seyhan yayincilik ve Iletism  Taïwan: Ecus

The 20th century, the century of the image. Henri Cartier-Bresson, born in 1908, is the eye of the century. The story of his life, the interpretation of his w ork, is above all the history of a look at the w orld. Strolling throu gh his centu ry, the eye of this lu cid observer seized the fascination of Africa of the 1920s, encou ntered the tragic d estiny of the Sp anish rep u blicans, covered the Liberation of Paris, cap tu red the w eariness of Gand hi ju st hou rs before his assassination, and w itnessed the victory of the Chinese com m u nists. The p hotograp her Cartier -Bresson is alw ays w here one m u st be, the d istingu ished p ickp ocket of the events of life as it is hap p ening. Cartier -Bresson is also Jean Renoir’s assistant for three m ajor film s, an artist w ho consid ers him self a craftsm an bu t, nonetheless, the fou nd er of Magnu m , the m ost p restigiou s of all p hoto agencies. H e is also the one w ho cap tu red the exp ressions of his fam ou s contem p oraries, Mau riac in m ystic levitation, Giacom etti or Sartre, characters of their ow n w ork, Fau lkner, Cam u s, and so m any others, their im ages seized at the d ecisive instant, p ortraits for eternity. H enri Cartier -Bresson shared lengthy conversations w ith Pierre Assou line. H e told him of his you thfu l fascination w ith su rrealism , his u nassu aged p assion for d raw ing, of the w ar and its cam p s, of friend s and of w om en w ho crossed his p ath. H e even gave the au thor access to his archives. The biograp her’s talent accom p lishes the rest. Like a p erfect p hoto, w e w itness the rare m eeting of tw o sensibilities. Pierre Assouline is a w riter and jou rnalist, the au thor of biograp hies (Simenon, Gaston Gallimard and others) and novels, a colu m nist at Le M onde des livres and L’Histoire, and a critic for Le M agazine littéraire. H e teaches as w ell at Sciences Po.

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


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BESTSELLERS

HERGE 50.000 copies sold Rights sold to :  

Belgium: Uitgeverij Standaard Canada: Interforum Canada  Denmark: Optimal Pub.  Spain: Ediciones Destino U.S.A.: Oxford University Press

February 1996 468 pages

Everyone know s Hergé, because everyone know s Tintin. Bu t no one know s w ho Georges Rem i, the excep tional creator w ho d om inated his centu ry and his art, that of the com ic strip , w as. This w ork is the fru it of an investigation of H ergé’s u np u blished archives, both p ersonal and p rofessional, and of p reviou sly u navailable backgrou nd m aterial p rovid ed by those close to him and by Belgian ju stice record s. Thanks also to hu nd red s of ind ivid u al accou nts, Pierre Assou line has w ritten «the» biograp hy that answ ers the qu estions of m illions of am ateu rs, taking them behind the scenes of the creation of tw enty -three albu m s of Tintin et M ilou.

Pierre Assouline is a w riter and jou rnalist, the au thor of biograp hies (Simenon, Gaston Gallimard and others) and novels, a colu m nist at Le M onde des livres and L’Histoire, and a critic for Le M agazine littéraire. H e teaches as w ell at Sciences Po.

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


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BESTSELLERS

ONE’S LIFE THROUGH THE EYES OF A DOLL 12.000 copies sold Rights sold to : 

Greece : Vadeskis

245 pages 21 March 2013

A close cousin to Dorian Gray, Barbara’s answer to the murderous psychosis that has possessed her is to place her life in the hands of a porcelain doll. At tw enty-fou r, Barbara has forgotten the horror she lived throu gh one w inter evening in a d eserted p ark. And yet, she d id not retu rn u naccom p anied from tha t incu rsion to the heart of p ain and terror, bringing w ith her a vision, a tenaciou s hallu cination that ap p ears in glim p ses in the bits and p ieces of her nightm ares. The you ng w om an cannot escap e from this im age. H au nted , obsessed , she is com p elled by an u nd ying thirst for vengeance she transfers to the d oll she has ju st bou ght. And that is how the sw eet and u nassu m ing Barbara is grad u ally p ossessed by an evil d ou ble w ho com m its the m ost hid eou s atrocities in her nam e. Close on her heels is Marc Percolès, a p rovocative and all-know ing cop w hose bod y and sou l have m ore scars than Frankenstein’s. H e is the first one to p erceive the connection betw een the little aesthetician and the m onster w ho tortu res m en at nightfall. Read y to d o anything to catch her in the act, he w ill not hesitate to ru n rou ghshod over the ru les to stop the escalation of violence. Bu t d u ring the investigation, he realizes that Barbara m ay not necessarily be the one controlling her m ad ness, and that others close to her m ay benefit from its ongoing consequ ences. And that he m u st save her too. Born in 1976, Ingrid D esjours is a p sychologist w ho sp ecializes in p sycho-crim inology. H aving p racticed in Belgiu m , w here she w orked w ith sex offend ers, tod ay she is a novelist and screenw riter. H er p reviou s w orks are Echo and Potens (Plon, 2009 and 2010), both w ell received by critics and the p u blic. She p resents the w riting of Connexions, an interactive thriller, in p artnership w ith TF1s television p rogram m e A u Field de la nuit (TFI). She lives in Enghien-lesBains.

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


43

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


44

Foreign rights Contact: Ms. Florence Maletrez: florence.maletrez@editions-plon.com Plon & Presses de la Renaissance, 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. www.plon.fr


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