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La Présidente
Dimanche 6 mai 2040, une jeune chinoise de 31 ans est élue présidente de la République française Elle s'appelle Jade, elle est née en Chine en 2009. Trente et un ans plus tard, elle préside aux destinées de la France. Comme une telle trajectoire a-t-elle été rendue possible ? Un tournant de l'histoire pour le moins vertigineux... et pourtant parfaitement plausible.
Pour arriver à cet épilogue incroyable, José Frèches remonte à l'année 1981 – celle de l'élection en France de François Mitterrand et, en Chine, du règne sans partage de Deng Xiaoping. Une fresque foisonnante où les héros côtoient les grandes figures de l'actualité et où la fiction se déploie dans le réel.
Grand romancier de la Chine, l'auteur a bourlingué dans les hautes sphères politiques et économiques, avant de prendre ses distances. Un regard de " repenti " qu'il met aujourd'hui au service d'une brillante tentative d'explication du monde. Un livre magistral, le roman d'une vie.
" Dans ce livre, je n'ai rien esquivé de la violence du monde et de nos craintes face au changement du climat et à la montée des périls. Mais j'ai aussi imaginé une issue surprenante, peut-être plus heureuse qu'il n'y paraît... "
Pour arriver à cet épilogue incroyable, José Frèches remonte à l'année 1981 – celle de l'élection en France de François Mitterrand et, en Chine, du règne sans partage de Deng Xiaoping. Une fresque foisonnante où les héros côtoient les grandes figures de l'actualité et où la fiction se déploie dans le réel.
Grand romancier de la Chine, l'auteur a bourlingué dans les hautes sphères politiques et économiques, avant de prendre ses distances. Un regard de " repenti " qu'il met aujourd'hui au service d'une brillante tentative d'explication du monde. Un livre magistral, le roman d'une vie.
" Dans ce livre, je n'ai rien esquivé de la violence du monde et de nos craintes face au changement du climat et à la montée des périls. Mais j'ai aussi imaginé une issue surprenante, peut-être plus heureuse qu'il n'y paraît... "
773 pages, Paperback
Published November 6, 2025
About the author
José Frèches
85 books16 followersEducation (school): São Paolo, Rome, Lisbon, Aix-en-Provence, Paris
Education (university): Institut d’Etudes Politiques of Aix-en-Provence,
Degrees in History of Art and Chinese, Masters in History, former pupil of ENA.
Professional career: curator of the Guimet museum at 21 years of age and lecturer at the Ecole du Louvre, José Frèches has held various positions in the communications, audiovisual and culture sectors (setting up the Vidéothèque of Paris and becoming President of Midi Libre)
Today, he is a member of the Artistic Council of the National Museums Group (Réunion des musées nationaux), and among other activities he puts his energy into a Parisian Communications Agency and is also the director of an art and antiques gallery in the Gard.
He initiated in 2005 the International Biennial of Chinese Contemporary Art in Montpellier, an event testifying for the huge development of China and of its culture. His novelistic trilogies, The Legend of the Jade and The Silk Empress (XO, 2002 and 2004) were tremendously successful: they sold more than one million copies and were translated into 11 languages. His biographical novel about Buddha, I Buddha, appealed to the general reader (90.000 copies were sold in France, apart from paperback) and to nine foreign publishers.
His first trilogy The Jade Disk is a story, set during the Warring States Period in disunited China. It tells the story from the character of the rich merchant and eventual prime-minister Lü Buwei - real father of the first emperor of China Qin Shi Huang. It portrays the struggles between the other kingdoms and Kingdom of Qin, destined to unite China.
His second trilogy The Empress of Silk is set in Medieval China during the Tang Dynasty. It depicts the story of Emperor Gaozong, the third emperor of Tang and his prominent and ambitious wife Wu Zetian, who after his death, virtually became the ruler of the country and the first female emperor in the history of China.
His latest series The Empire of Tears is set in mid-19th Century China, during the Opium Wars, where the empire is struggling and slowly decaying.
Education (university): Institut d’Etudes Politiques of Aix-en-Provence,
Degrees in History of Art and Chinese, Masters in History, former pupil of ENA.
Professional career: curator of the Guimet museum at 21 years of age and lecturer at the Ecole du Louvre, José Frèches has held various positions in the communications, audiovisual and culture sectors (setting up the Vidéothèque of Paris and becoming President of Midi Libre)
Today, he is a member of the Artistic Council of the National Museums Group (Réunion des musées nationaux), and among other activities he puts his energy into a Parisian Communications Agency and is also the director of an art and antiques gallery in the Gard.
He initiated in 2005 the International Biennial of Chinese Contemporary Art in Montpellier, an event testifying for the huge development of China and of its culture. His novelistic trilogies, The Legend of the Jade and The Silk Empress (XO, 2002 and 2004) were tremendously successful: they sold more than one million copies and were translated into 11 languages. His biographical novel about Buddha, I Buddha, appealed to the general reader (90.000 copies were sold in France, apart from paperback) and to nine foreign publishers.
His first trilogy The Jade Disk is a story, set during the Warring States Period in disunited China. It tells the story from the character of the rich merchant and eventual prime-minister Lü Buwei - real father of the first emperor of China Qin Shi Huang. It portrays the struggles between the other kingdoms and Kingdom of Qin, destined to unite China.
His second trilogy The Empress of Silk is set in Medieval China during the Tang Dynasty. It depicts the story of Emperor Gaozong, the third emperor of Tang and his prominent and ambitious wife Wu Zetian, who after his death, virtually became the ruler of the country and the first female emperor in the history of China.
His latest series The Empire of Tears is set in mid-19th Century China, during the Opium Wars, where the empire is struggling and slowly decaying.
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April 26, 2026
Phrases trop longues. Fin sans fin.
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