I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere

A wonderful collection of stories published together with a poignant novella from the internationally renowned author of Hunting and Gathering.

Her books have both wit and a whimsical charm

Gavalda sees through ordinary appearances to people's hidden longings... A gifted literary stylist

Anna Gavalda (Author) Born in 1970, Anna Gavalda was a teacher whose collection of stories, I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere, shot her to fame (published in the UK with her novella Someone I Loved). Her novel Hunting and Gathering (Ensemble c'est tout) was a bestseller in several countries, selling over two million copies, and was made into a film; this was followed by Consolation. Her books have been translated into thirty-six languages. The mother of two children, she lives and writes just outside Paris.

I Wish Someone Were Waiting For Me Somewhere explores how a life can be changed irrevocably in just one fateful moment. A pregnant mother's plans for the future unravel at the hospital; a travelling salesman learns the consequences of an almost-missed exit on the motorway in the newspaper the next morning; while a perfect date is spoilt by a single act of thoughtlessness. In those crucial moments Gavalda demonstrates her almost magical skill in conveying love, lust, longing, and loneliness. 
 
Someone I Loved is a hauntingly intimate look at the intolerably painful, yet sometimes valuable consequences that adultery can have on a marriage and the individuals involved. A simple tale, yet long in substance, Someone I Loved ends like most great love affairs, forever leaving you wanting just one more moment.

Hunting and Gathering

A bestseller in several countries, this enchanting novel about a collection of misfits in Paris is quirky, poignant and unputdownable. 
 
Now also made a French film starring Audrey Tautou.

Like Amélie, Hunting and Gathering stops at nothing to make the reader feel good. Reading it reminded me of tucking into one of those beautifully constructed little cakes that you see in the windows of elegant French patisseries

A charming, romantic - and very French - novel

An elegant, ironic tale.. this will be a classic

Gavalda's ability to reinvent the will-they-won't-they love story makes this a refreshing five-star read with real bite

Born in 1970, Anna Gavalda was a teacher whose collection of stories, I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere, shot her to fame (published in the UK with her novella Someone I Loved). Her novel Hunting and Gathering (Ensemble c'est tout) was a bestseller in several countries, selling over two million copies, and was made into a film; this was followed by Consolation. Her books have been translated into thirty-six languages. The mother of two children, she lives and writes just outside Paris.

Camille is doing her best to disappear. She barely eats, works at night as a cleaner and lives in a tiny attic room. Downstairs in a beautiful, ornate apartment, lives Philibert Marquet de la Durbellière, a shy, erudite, upper-class man with an unlikely flatmate in the shape of the foul-mouthed but talented chef, Franck. One freezing evening Philibert overcomes his excruciating reitcence to rescue Camille, unconscious, from her garret and bring her into his home. 
 
As she recovers Camille learns more about Philibert; about Franck and his guilt for his beloved but fragile grandmother Paulette, who is all he has left in the world; and about herself. And slowly, this curious quartet of misfits all discover the importance of food, friendship and love.

Anna Gavalda

Alison Anderson

Too often the best European literature doesn't reach this island; here we have a little consolation

An absorbing tale... a gripping story that gallops along with un-put-downable speed

Despite an awkward start, it makes an uncomplicated, easily digestible, cheering read: so it's perhaps unsurprising that it became the best-selling French novel of 2008, moving over half a million copies and being translated into 32 languages

It is a confident author who works with a large cast of characters, and in many instances - notably the children - Gavalda nails it

Gavalda's touching writing makes what could have been a melancholy text into a beautifully insightful novel.

An international bestseller and French publishing sensation Consolation is a dazzling, heartbreaking tale of one man, two remarkable women and an unforgettable transvestite. 
 
Charles Balanda is forty-seven; a successful architect, he is constantly on the move. But from the moment he hears about the death of the woman he once loved - Anouk, the tragically big-hearted mother of a childhood friend - his life begins to unravel until, one day, he finds himself on a Paris pavement covered in blood. But fate brings him one final chance to be happy in Kate, an enchanting young woman, herself damaged but fearless and in love with life. 
 
The resulting story is a triumphant, spellbinding and ultimately consoling novel about the power of a second chance.

Anna Gavalda

Praise for Consolation

Too often the best European literature doesn't reach this island; here we have a little consolation

An absorbing tale... a gripping story that gallops along with un-put-downable speed

Despite an awkward start, it makes an uncomplicated, easily digestible, cheering read: so it's perhaps unsurprising that it became the best-selling French novel of 2008, moving over half a million copies and being t ...

Too often the best European literature doesn't reach this island; here we have a little consolation

An absorbing tale... a gripping story that gallops along with un-put-downable speed

Despite an awkward start, it makes an uncomplicated, easily digestible, cheering read: so it's perhaps unsurprising that it became the best-selling French novel of 2008, moving over half a million copies and being t ...

Too often the best European literature doesn't reach this island; here we have a little consolation

An absorbing tale... a gripping story that gallops along with un-put-downable speed

Despite an awkward start, it makes an uncomplicated, easily digestible, cheering read: so it's perhaps unsurprising that it became the best-selling French novel of 2008, moving over half a million copies and being t ...

Books by Anna Gavalda

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