Fleur de tonnerre

by Jean Teulé

Ce fut une entant adorable, une jeune fille charmante, une femme compatissante et dévouée. Elle a traversé la Bretagne de part en part, tuant avec détermination tous ceux qui croisèrent son chemin : les hommes, les femmes, les vieillards, les enfants et même les nourrissons. Elle s'appelait Hélène Jégado, et le bourreau qui lui trancha la tête le 26 février 1852 sur la place du Champs-de-Mars de Rennes ne sut jamais qu'il venait d'exécuter la plus terrifiante meurtrière de tous les temps.
Sous la plume acérée de Jean Teulé, Hélène reprend vie et accomplit son destin, funeste et fascinant.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Roman, France, Fiction, Crime, Bande Dessinée, Audiobook

259 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 7, 2013

About the author

Jean Teulé est un romancier français, qui a également pratiqué la bande dessinée, le cinéma et la télévision.

Auteur de bande dessinée dans un premier temps, il a débuté à la télévision dans L'assiette anglaise de Bernard Rapp ou Nulle part ailleurs sur Canal+.

Homme de télévision, scénariste, comédien, cinéaste, il est avant tout écrivain. Ayant abandonné toute autre activité, il se consacre désormais à l’écriture. Il a publié, aux Éditions Julliard, Rainbow pour Rimbaud (1991), L'Œil de Pâques (1992), Ballade pour un père oublié (1995), Darling (1998) et Bord cadre (1999), Longues Peines, Les Lois de la gravité, Ô Verlaine ! (2004), Je, François Villon (2006), Le Magasin des suicides (2007). Finalement, en 2008 "Le Montespan". Tous ses livres sont publiés en poche aux éditions Pocket.

Il a également publié plusieurs bandes dessinées, basées essentiellement sur des photos retouchées.

À la ville, Jean Teulé est le compagnon de l'actrice Miou-Miou.

Reviews

[Amirhossein · Rating 1 out of 5]

بالاخره این آشغال به تمام معنا رو تموم کردم. بدترین نسخه از یک جنایی واقعی که میتونید ببینید. حتی فکر نمیکنم ارزش اینو داشته باشه براش ریویو نسبتا طولانی بنویسم. فقط ای کاش صفر ستاره میتونستم بهش بدم

[Atamoghani · Rating 2 out of 5]

واقعا جذاب نیست، چه به عنوان یه کتاب جدا بدون هیچ پیش زمینه ای از نویسنده و چه با پیش زمینه از نویسنده و ۲کتاب خوب قبلیش .در هر صورت جذاب نبود،روایت پشت سر هم قتل ها توی فصل های کوتاه و اخرم محاکمه.بدون جذابیت

[Shadi · Rating 1 out of 5]

روایت این کتاب کشش نداره ، داستان جالبی هم نداشت
متن کاملا قابل پیش بینی و خطیه و حوصله رو سر می‌بره

[Niuosha · Rating 1 out of 5]

ترجمه واقعا بد بود
و اینکه هم در مقدمه و هم در پشت کتاب کل داستان رو لو داده بود.

[Lili Aurelie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Une écriture propre à son auteur, qui sur la fin devient bien barrée, une idée, un lieu et une époque intéressants, mais malheureusement, on tourne un peu en rond, avec l'impression de lire une simple suite d'assassinats (très très nombreux).

[Acacia · Rating 1 out of 5]

absolute waste of time and paper. it’s a shame we can’t give zero stars on this app.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the histories of serial killers I’ve seen began with Jack the Ripper. A few go back further to talk about Gilles de Rais and Elizabeth Báthory. As the histories of serial murder go back in time, the explanations for the killers seem to move from rational psychology to more primitive discussions of evil, perhaps because the historical record is so scanty no other explanation is possible. Hélène Jégado is a new name to me. And, as Jean Teulé presents her story in The Poisoning Angel, the reason for her three dozen murders hovers somewhere in between psychological understanding and human evil. We know a bit more about her than we do about the earliest serial killers, but we don’t know enough to know why she poisoned so many people with so little motivation...

Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this ebook from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story of the travels and inclinations of a girl who after poioning her mother, travels from household to household as a domestic cook unable to restrain herself from eventually succumbing to the desire to add that little something extra to the recipe, yet without malice or evil intention, more of an addiction, or loyalty to that voice in her head, the legend of Ankou, death's helper, leading her on, guiding her towards the next victim.

Macabre, yet told with an element of detachment that stops it from being sinister. Entertaining and fascinating, a little insight to another era and a moment of unforgettable history.

[¸.•*¨*•Gina *A Bookwyrm in Belgium*•*¨*•.¸ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is based on a fascinating historical story, that of a serial killer in 18oos France.
The historical details in the book are very interesting, and I loved all the references to Breton culture and folklore. However, I found the style a little flat at times, which is perhaps due to translation. I think the Gallic humour also missed its mark with me as I found it more irritating than amusing, but that is just personal taste. All in all there is much to recommend with this novel, but sadly it was not another 'Perfume' as I had hoped.

World Terror Tour Reading Challenge - France

[Eli · Rating 3 out of 5]

من قبلا از ژان تولی مغازه خودکشی و آدم خواران رو خونده بودم و فضای هر دو کتاب رو هم خیلی دوست داشتم، با شور و اشتیاق رفتم سراغ این کتاب، اما متاسفانه اون چیزی که انتظار داشتم نبود. وسطای داستان برام تکراری و کنسل کننده شده بود و به زور تمومش کردم

[Aline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Je ne suis pas certaine d'avoir apprécié ce livre à son juste niveau. J'ai trouvé ça un peu lent et le personnage d'Hélène devenant de plus en plus détestable m'a déplu.

[Gazelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

مزخرف.
حتی باور نمیکنم ژان تولی این رو نوشته باشه!
جدی این خزعبل رو دوباره خونده و تصمیم گرفته چاپش کنه؟:/
نه هیجانی، نه دلهره‌ای، نه هیچی! مطلقا هیچی! روزنامه میخوندم بهم بیشتر کیف میداد:/
ترجمه هم بد نبود.

پ.ن: نسخه کاغذی، ترجمه سوگل فراهانی، نشر چشمه.

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

بالاخره این فاجعه تموم شد😶‍🌫️

[Sep · Rating 2 out of 5]

خرافات - آنکو و ارابه مرگ - خلأ احساس - مجسمه‌ساز

[مسیح بی شفا · Rating 3 out of 5]

از دست انسان‌ها هیچ کاری بر نمی‌آید. هیچ اهانتی مرا زمین نمی‌زند، هیچ صخره‌ای بر من سایه نمی‌اندازد، هیچ چکشی سرم را نخواهد شکست. من شکست‌ناپذیرم!
.
ژان تولی در این کتاب نه طنز تلخ مغازۀ خودکشی را دارد و نه هیجان مسحورکنندۀ آدمخواران را به تصویر می‌کشد. بلکه این‌بار، به خونسردی تمام عیار و ریزبینی دقیقی، سکوت و تعلل شما را به چالش می‌کشد. خرزهره، شاید از نظر داستانی آنچنان پر مایه و جذاب نباشد، اما شبیه‌سازی دقیقی از یک قاتل زنجیره‌ای، از یک شکارچی کشنده دارد. آرامشی برای انتظار قربانی و صبری تمام ناشدنی، برای کشتن.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know that I can really recommend this book to anyone, but I had fun reading it. It's a French translation about a Breton serial poisoner. It is bizarre and surreal. I would call it a travelogue of murder with some dark, very dry humor thrown in.

[Acid Free Pulp · Rating 3 out of 5]

During the first half of the nineteenth century in Brittany, a household cook went on a decades’ long killing spree. She poisoned men, women, and children, opting to lace cakes and soup with arsenic. Her victims would swell and be in immense discomfort before they finally expired. The cook killed dozens of people.

It all sounds quite gruesome (and it is, of course), but with time dividing us and a closer examination of Hélène Jégado’s spree, one can’t help but think how preposterous it all is. She had no clear reasoning for it. Hélène was not explicitly after money or other possessions, she just liked offing people. If she was accused of a petty crime like stealing a sheet or book, the accuser was done for. She left so many bodies piling behind her that the villagers outwardly yelled obscenities at her in the streets.

In The Poisoning Angel, Hélène Jégado’s life and crimes have been fictionalized by author Jean Teulé as he portrays the dastardly affairs in a dark comedy vein. As a child, Hélène is taught different folklore including one about the Ankou, the Breton myth of death. She takes on this personification and makes it her life’s work, so to speak, to dispatch everyone in her wake.

The majority of the novel is concerned with the various households Hélène Jégado joins throughout the years. With every new master of the house or suspicious domestic servant, the reader looks through one open eye as her fatal soups and cakes are served one after another. Afterward, this did become a bit repetitive; there wasn’t much variety in each new household. Moments that did stick out were when Hélène’s new position was in a venue different from the others. It was particularly engaging when she takes up as the cook of a brothel, both cooking her fare and providing comfort to the gaggle of soldiers that find their way there. The rapidity of their dispatches is downright farcical.

Beginning each chapter is a simple map of Brittany with points notating Hélène’s movements as she absconds from each residence. At some point, the path criss-crosses adding to that aforementioned preposterous feeling and the addition of a couple of groupie wigmakers, who clip the recently deceased’s hair for their own uses, make me wonder if this story wouldn’t be better suited for a stage play.

The Poisoning Angel is translated from its original French by Melanie Florence. She took a particularly interesting approach as she included some of the Breton language that was surely in the original novel. Hélène comes from Brittany, an area of France that is continually designated as other. This further outcasts her throughout the book.

Original Review: http://acidfreepulp.com/2014/07/09/the-poisoning-angel-by-jean-teule/

[Lucia Graziano · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ci va già un certo talento, a rendere noioso un romanzo incentrato sugli omicidi efferati di una serial killer, e ancor più a rendere totalmente inverosimile una storia vera: com'è possibile - si chiede il lettore - che questa pazza sia riuscita ad ammazzare una quarantina di persone nell'arco di quarant'anni, senza che nessuno si rendesse conto che tutti i delitti erano ricollegabili a lei? In questo senso, Wikipedia è più efficace del romanzo nello spiegare il contesto socio-culturale (e sanitario: molti delitti sono avvenuti nel mezzo di epidemie di colera) che ha reso possibile questa cecità selettiva.

Globalmente l'ho trovato un romanzo francamente noioso: trecento pagine di perfetti sconosciuti che muoiono malissimo dopo essere entrati in scena giusto un paio di paragrafi prima. Non si dà conto di cosa abbia fatto l'assassina nei periodi di tempo in cui non ha ammazzato nessuno (e questo sarebbe stato interessantissimo da approfondire, se non altro per dare un minimo di varietà al testo!); le indagini sul suo conto (che secondo me sarebbero state ancor più interessanti: wow, una *vera* detective story nella Francia napoleonica!) sono tralasciate quasi totalmente, a favore di un romanzo che privilegia il punto di vista della protagonista pazza. Solo che è punto di vista che non funziona e che alla lunga viene a noia.

Peccato, un'occasione sprecata secondo me.

[Granny Sebestyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Fleur de Tonnerre" de Jean-Luc Cornette et Jürg (120p)
Ed. Futuropolis
Bonjour les fous de lectures...
Cela faisait un petit temps que je ne vous avais plus présenté une BD
Voici une adaptation du roman de Jean Teulé
Bretagne, pays de croyances et de légendes.
Hélène Jégado y nait au débit des années 1800 et est bercé par les rites et contes étranges qui sillonnent le pays.
La légende la plus tenace est celle de la faucheuse qui sillonne la lande et qui est plus connue sous le nome de "L'Ankou.
Pour vaincre ses peurs, Hélène décide de faire comme l'Ankou et se transforme en tueuse.
Dès lors, elle n'aura de cesse d'empoisonner tous ceux qui croisent son passage, laissant derrière elle un nombre incroyable de victimes.
Cette histoire caustique, merveilleusement contée par Jean Teulé, est ici très bien mise en dessin par les deux compères Cornette et Jürg.
Très belle représentation graphique qui rend palpable l'atmosphère lourde de la lande entre superstition et bigoterie.
Un régal pour les amateurs de BD

[Ionia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tend to gravitate toward books based on real events, even if they have been fictionalised. I liked this one for many reasons.

With the gaps in knowledge we have about early serial killers and their motivations, I was interested to see where the author would go with this. To my delight, this turned out to be a very well written and thoughtful book with a great premise.

I did struggle with some of the language at times, mostly the Brittany bits, but overall still found it an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. The main character had me hooked from the beginning to the end.

If you are looking for something a little different to read, this will do nicely.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

[ghazal · Rating 4 out of 5]

اول از همه بگم در مقایسه با بسیاری از کتاب ها واقعا درست نیست امتیازی کمتر از 5 به این کتاب داده بشه اما بحث سر اینه که نویسنده اثر ژان تولی بوده. با توجه به کتاب آدم خواران و مغازه خودکشی میتونم بگم یکم انتظار بیشتری از سبک نوشتار داشتم( یعنی دوست داشتم پرکشش تر باشه، هولناک تر و ملموس تر) ، هرچند این مورد بخشی اش هم مربوط میشه به مترجم. در کل داستان شوکه کننده ای بود که اگر جستجو نمیکردم و ادله کافی پیدا نمیکردم محال بود همچین داستان وحشتناکی رو باور کنم. داستانی در مورد باور های خرافی، ترس و راه مقابله با آن.
مثل همه کتاب های دیگه ای که دوستشون داشتم باید بگم به نظرم خوندن چنین داستانی مثل یک موهبت الهی میمونه( کمی اغراق آمیزه میدونم ولی کی فکرش رو میکرد تجربه خوندن همچین داستان عجیب و غریبی نصیب آدم بشه؟). در کل راضیم از وقتی که برای خوندن کتاب گذاشتم و قطعا توصیه اش میکنم.

[DéborahL · Rating 2 out of 5]

Je me demande encore pourquoi avoir persisté à le lire. Je ne trouve qu'un mot pour décrire ce livre: grotesque. A beaucoup de points de vus, certains positifs, beaucoup négatifs. Le style m'a parfois fait rire, à ses dépens. J'ai aimé le breton disséminé au fil du livre. Au ton général, j'aurais cru pouvoir jurer l'auteur breton. Je viens de découvrir qu'il est bas-normand. Cela explique-t-il au moins partiellement les perruquiers? Mystère.
Tout compte fait, je ressors de ce livre avec l'impression d'avoir raté quelque chose, ou peut-être faut-il être empoisonné, en proie à un quelconque hallucinogène, pour en apprécier le style.

[Clémence · Rating 4 out of 5]

2015 Popsugar Reading Challenge : a book based on a true story
2015 Read Harder Challenge : a book that is by or about someone from an indigenous culture

I'm hesitating between the three and four stars rating. I really liked the book overall, the story of this woman who thought bringing death was her mission in life, and I like the immersion in XIXth century Brittany.

However, sometimes the author tries to hard to show he did his homework, and some of the dialogue sound like info-dumping. This is unfortunate, since Jean Teulé is a really good writer.

I let the four stars to thank him for his interest in my dearest homeland.

[Faeze Nayebi]

نپسندیدم

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this.

Full Review (no spoilers) on my blog >> https://www.modquokka.com/single-post...

Why?

It reminded me of Patrick Süskind's 'Perfume'. However, unlike 'Perfume', 'The Poisoning Angel' is based on a true person; she being Hélène Jégado, a female famed for poisoning at least 36 people in France in the early nineteenth century.

I loved Jean Teulé's writing. Couldn't put the book down.

Simple. Witty. Literary. Dark.
Highly recommend this as a literary read.

[Jay Cat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Une histoire dans l'Histoire... Intéressant! Par contre, la tournure des phrases, la stylistique ne vont pas!! Cela ne colle pas! Il y a un décalage entre ce qu'on lit et le ressentit!

[Mahsa♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

چیکار میکنی دختر یکم یواشتر آدما رو از بین ببر :|||
چرا این داستان انقدر سریع پیش میره؟
یه جاهایی واقعا از ریتم جا می‌مونم.
درک نمیکنم چجوری یه سری اتفاقا میفتن و واقعا جذاب نیست برام:(
حیف پولی که دادم بابتش.
فقط رو حساب اینکه مغازه خودکشی و آدمخواران رو دوست داشتم اینو گرفتم و شروع کردم ولی… ☹️💔

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really odd book, surrealist and illusory. It's a novel based on a true story, that of Hélène Jégado, a Breton cook, who poisoned at least 30 people whom she chose at random, between 1833 and 1851. This is the first novel by the author that I have read, but apparently this is his trademark in France: novelising real crimes from history, the story often told from the perspective of the murderer, the books often courting controversy in his homeland.

So it is with this work. At the end of the novel there is an interview with the author where he describes the research he conducted and how uncomfortable many people in Jégado's hometown were with the idea of him basing a novel on her murders.

I can see why The Poisoning Angel might be uncomfortable reading for some. Told almost entirely from the perspective of Hélène, the book describes her journey across Brittany poisoning person after person, often her employers and their families, alongside any friends, relations or associates, unfortunate enough to stop by for lunch. The death of her employers leads to her putting herself out of work and she moves on, finding new employ, and conducting the process all over again.

You might wonder why nobody seems to put two and two together and indeed everyone else in the novel is incredibly naive, to the point of childlike innocence. Towards the end of the novel some townsfolk start to cotton on but even then most of the people within Hélène and her victims' orbit are remarkably blind to the obvious pattern. Don't get me wrong, this isn't an oversight by the author, but is rather a facet of the dreamlike surrealism that imbues the novel.

Throughout the novel there is a disconnected subplot about a pair of Parisian wig makers who travel to Breton to pay people for hair. Beset by mishap after mishap they eventually go 'native' smearing themselves in mud and hair. While their paths cross with Hélène occasionally, the main point of this seems to be to underline the notion that Breton is a somehow primitive, atavistic region of France. This of course underlines the main storyline, Hélène herself coming from Breton.

Having no real knowledge of France other than that gleaned from holiday travel and school history lessons, I have no idea whether this view of Breton is one commonly held in France. So this idea that Breton is somehow part of France but simultaneously seen as "other" was interesting. Similarly the novel at times is amusing and as a whole it is certainly original. But I have to admit to finding the whole thing a little tiring after a while. I found myself yearning to know the real story behind Hélène Jégado's crimes and how she escaped justice for eighteen years. There's obviously a fascinating story here but by the end of Jean Teulé's tale I was more frustrated than enlightened.

[Hazel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

Some people may already know of the prolific French serial killer of the 1800s. Hélène Jégado, over a lengthy period of forty years, is thought to have murdered at least thirty-six people, most likely more, in the region of Brittany. By being hired as a cook in a wide range of establishments throughout her life gave her the opportunity to poison people through their meals, predominantly with arsenic. Jean Teulé, a French novelist, combines his own imagination with the historical statistics in order to create an insight to the tale of this infamous poisoner.

The tale begins at the beginning of the nineteenth century, when Hélène is only seven years old, in the small hamlet town Kerhordevin, Plouhinec. Nicknamed Thunderflower by her mother, a name that she is often referred as throughout the narrative, she becomes fascinated with superstitious stories about Death’s henchman, Ankou. In order to extinguish her fears of this formidable character – something she later claims – she decides to become Ankou beginning with the poisoning of her own mother. Soon after she sets off on her first of many journeys to work as a cook, where her killing spree begins.

It may seem surprising that she were not caught earlier on in her murderous career, especially with entire households succumbing to their deaths, but - at least in Teulé’s telling - the Breton’s still held strong belief in their old Celtic superstitions and altered between worshipping Hélène as a saint for not dying herself, or accusing her of witchcraft and bringing misfortune wherever she went. It is not until Hélène is approaching the age of fifty that the police begin to investigate, arrest and finally send her to the guillotine.

Each chapter begins with a map, detailing Hélène’s journey through Brittany so that the reader can see just how many places she went doing Ankou’s work. Teulé also turns this disturbing historical novel into a black comedy with the inclusion of two wig makers from Normandy who happen to go where Hélène goes, although are completely unconnected to, to whom bizarre misfortunes constantly fall.

The Poisoning Angel is an interesting tale and absurdly fascinating at times. From time to time it could fall a bit dull with the repetitiveness, but in a way it could not be helped, as it remains a fact that Hélène Jégado poisoned a large number of people. Melanie Florence must be commended for her translation from the original French, something that is by no means an easy feat.

[Sarah-Jayne Briggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I have some mixed feelings about this book. I felt that the blurb of this book sounded quite intriguing, but the execution wasn't quite as good as it could have been.

It's probably very difficult to write about the life of a murderer, whether real or fictional. A murderer isn't the sort of character who can easily be made sympathetic. I felt the author didn't really explore the motivations that might have driven Helene. I suppose it made sense, though, because she came across as very much a madwoman.

Some of the scenes in this book were quite intriguing, but there were others that I had some difficulty in following what was going on. I wasn't sure, most of the time, why Helene would kill a certain amount of people, but leave others alive.

The book itself was easy to read and it was interesting to see the folk tales from where Helene grew up. She was thoroughly unlikable in this book and I was kind of relieved by the ending.

I don't know if I would read any more books by this author in the future. It would have to depend on the subject matter and if the book was one that I thought I might be interested in.