Clay: A Novel

by Franck Bouysse, Lara Vergnaud (translator)

In this captivating Faulknerian tale of love, masculinity, and vengeance, tensions boil over in a rural mountain community whose able-bodied men have left to fight in World War I.

In the heart of Cantal, in the heat of the summer of 1914, the men resigned themselves to going off to fight, far away. Joseph, just 15 years old, must take care of the family farm with his mother, his grandmother, and Leonard, an old neighbor who has become his friend. On the property next door, Valette, kept away from the war due to an atrophied hand, dwells on his grudges and his rage. And now he has to take in his brother's wife and daughter, who have sought refuge with him. The arrival of the two women will end up upsetting a hitherto immutable order and awakening buried passions.

384 pages, Paperback

Published May 20, 2025

About the author

Franck Bouysse (Brive-la-Gaillarde, 1965) ha sido profesor de biología, y empezó su carrera de escritor en 2004. Es autor, entre otros libros, de Grossir le ciel, Plateau y Glaise. La novela que ahora presentamos ha recibido el Grand Prix des lectrices de Elle, el Prix du roman inspirant Psychologies Magazine, el Prix des libraires, el Prix Babelio, el Prix de La Maison du Livre de Rodez, el Prix Passion Passerelles de la librería Passerelles de Vienne, el Prix Audiolib, el Prix du Grand Saint-Emilionnais, el Prix des médiathèques Mions-Corbas y el Prix Émile Guillaumin.

Reviews

[Ali G]

This was not at all what was promised. There are so many WW1 books that offer so much more.