{"title":"Books by Pierre Lemaitre","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780857058997","title":"All Human Wisdom","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 1927, the great and the good of Paris gather at the funeral of the wealthy banker, Marcel Péricourt. His daughter, Madeleine, is poised to take over his financial empire (although, unfortunately, she knows next to nothing about banking). More unfortunately still, when Madeleine's seven-year-old son, Paul, tumbles from a second floor window of the Péricourt mansion on the day of his grandfather's funeral, and suffers life-changing injuries, his fall sets off a chain of events that will reduce Madeleine to destitution and ruin in a matter of months.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUsing all her reserves of ingenuity, resourcefulness, and a burning desire for retribution, Madeleine sets about rebuilding her life. She will be helped by an ex-Communist fixer, a Polish nurse who doesn't speak a word of French, a brainless petty criminal with a talent for sabotage, an exiled German Jewish chemist, a very expensive forger, an opera singer with a handy flair for theatrics, and her own son with ideas for a creative new business to take Paris by storm.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA brilliant, imaginative, free-falling caper through between-the-wars Paris, and a portrait of Europe on the edge of disaster.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eTranslated from the French by Frank Wynne\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWith the support of the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57688197366133,"sku":"9780857059017","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":43204152164530,"sku":"9780857058997","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780857059017.jpg?v=1792686117"},{"product_id":"9780857059901","title":"Inhuman Resources","description":"\u003cp\u003eAlain Delambre is a 57-year-old former HR executive, drained by four years of hopeless unemployment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll he is offered are small, demoralizing jobs. He has reached his very lowest ebb, and can see no way out.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo when a major company finally invites him to an interview, Alain Delambre is ready to do anything, borrow money, shame his wife and his daughters and even participate in the ultimate recruitment test: a role-playing game that involves hostage-taking.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlain Delambre commits body and soul in this struggle to regain his dignity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut if he suddenly realised that the dice had been loaded against him from the start, his fury would be limitless.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd what began as a role-play game could quickly become a bloodbath.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43204173824178,"sku":"9780857059901","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780857059901_14ac4dc8-1f84-43cb-9891-76c8e674140e.jpg?v=1786016311"},{"product_id":"9781529416916","title":"Mirror of our Sorrows","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Tremendous and enjoyable\"\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003ci\u003eLa Libre Belgique\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A great success\"\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003ci\u003eLa Croix\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eApril, 1940. \u003c\/b\u003eLouise Belmont runs naked down the boulevard  du Montparnasse. To understand the traumatic scene she  has just witnessed, she will have to plunge headlong into the  madness of the Phoney War, as France, seized by the panic  of a new European conflict, descends into chaos.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLouise navigates this period of enormous upheaval in parallel with her fellow citizens - including Maginot Line conscripts Raoul and Gabriel, bistro-owner Monsieur Jules and confidence trickster Désiré Migault. The looming threat of German occupation uncovers long-buried secrets and makes for strange bedfellows, as one extraordinary twist of fate follows another.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith characteristic wit and verve, Pierre Lemaitre chronicles the fall of a nation crushed by circumstance. The final novel in his award-winning trilogy is an incandescent tale that veers from the tragic to the burlesque.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eTranslated from the French by Frank Wynne\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43204876992690,"sku":"9781529416916","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781529416916.jpg?v=1786023497"},{"product_id":"9781472292124","title":"The Wide World","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eONE OF \u003ci\u003eTHE TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e' FAVOURITE NOVELS OF 2023\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe first epic novel in THE GLORIOUS YEARS series from the two times winner of the  prestigious Prix-Goncourt\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'You have the ingredients Balzac would have cooked with. And it is exactly those great 19th century novels that Lemaitre will remind you of' \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Pelletiers are a prominent French family living in Beirut, dominated by Louis, who has built a hugely successful business manufacturing artisanal soaps. Louis has three sons, but none seems to have the aptitude for commerce he desires.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere's Jean, the eldest, a feckless man who is both lazy and weak. When his ambitious wife suggests a move to France, he jumps at the chance for escape - for Jean has a secret that no-one must ever uncover. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEtienne is the youngest son, who travels to Saigon looking for love, and there uncovers financial corruption and violence linked to the very highest officials - evidence that presents a real threat to his own life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrançois, the middle Pelletier brother,  leaves for Paris and becomes a journalist.  When he reports a shocking and brutal murder, he realises he's uncovered the work of a dangerous serial killer, one who may be very close to home.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAbsorbing, colourful and rich with no-holds-barred detail, THE WIDE WORLD is a terrific novel of greed, blackmail, and shocking crime.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Literature with conviction; a furious talent'\u003ci\u003e L'Obs\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43595591254194,"sku":"9781472292124","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781472292124.jpg?v=1786020825"},{"product_id":"9781914495823","title":"Going to the Dogs","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAnd anyway, who cares? All that matters is that the guy is dead, right?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA dark and thrilling ride about the most unlikely of killers, perfect for Tarantino fans, by the award-winning  and bestselling author, PIERRE LEMAITRE \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A really excellent suspense novelist'\u003cb\u003e Stephen King\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A total success\u003cb\u003e'\u003ci\u003e Le Canard Enchaîn\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eé\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Dark, very funny and completely unexpected'\u003cb\u003e \u003ci\u003eMadame Figaro\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Deft, funny, sharp . . . an absolute delight' \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eGuardian\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWith Mathilde, there is never a stray bullet, her work is clean and neat. Tonight was an exception. A little whim. Obviously, she could have taken the shot from a distance, done less damage; obviously she could have made the hit with a single bullet. What can I say? I don't know what came over me. This is what she will say if anyone asks. And anyway, who cares? \u003cb\u003eAll that matters is that the guy is dead, right? \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e1985. Paris.\u003c\/b\u003e Sixty-three-year-old Mathilde Perrin is on another mission. A widow, mother and decorated hero of the Resistance, she is also a ruthless and skilled contract killer, and the most unlikely suspect. But tonight, something has changed. Mathilde is agitated, forgetful and impulsive - so much so that even Ludo, her loyal and long-suffering Dalmatian, has noticed a dangerous shift in her mood. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFor Mathilde, retirement is not an option.\u003c\/b\u003e And no superior, nor police detective nor meddling neighbour will stand in her way. But as Mathilde's mind unravels and the bodies pile up, \u003cb\u003ehow long will it take before the killer herself becomes the target?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":55897691029877,"sku":"9781914495823","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":57685692350837,"sku":"9781914495250","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781914495823.jpg?v=1792598843"},{"product_id":"9781035412655","title":"The Silence and the Rage","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A novelist at the height of his powers'  \u003ci\u003eLa Croix\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'You have the ingredients Balzac would have cooked with. And it is exactly those great 19th century novels that Lemaitre will remind you of' \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003et is 1952 and the Pelletier family have returned to a life in France...\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePatriarch Louis Pelletier, a successful businessman with a dark past, has remained with his wife in Beirut, but his family have settled on French soil. Jean, the menacing eldest brother, hides a terrible secret and is trapped in a stifling marriage, though his life is enriched by his love for his three-year-old daughter. François, an up-and-coming reporter, is caught up in a volatile love affair; and Hélène, their younger sister, strives to make her own way as a journalist, but as a woman in a man's world, she faces extraordinary challenges as she fights to expose a vast industrial scandal.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFilled with twists and turns, dark and compelling, yet ripe with wit and surprising cliffhangers, \u003ci\u003eThe Silence and the Rage\u003c\/i\u003e is the story of one remarkable family against the backdrop of France during one of its most thrilling and turbulent periods.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'As wonderful as \u003ci\u003eThe Wide World\u003c\/i\u003e. A family and social saga to savour in a sitting' \u003ci\u003eLe Parisien\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Lemaitre's hard-boiled style of writing is perfectly matched by his translator, Frank Wynne'\u003ci\u003e Financial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57682777833845,"sku":"9781035412693","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":55897721110901,"sku":"9781035412655","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781035412693_5d757588-9ddf-40d3-8014-db15e1519c44.jpg?v=1792511717"},{"product_id":"9780857056245","title":"Irene","description":"Camille Verhoeven, whose diminutive stature belies his fierce intensity, has reached an unusually content (for him) place in life. he is respected by his colleagues and he and his lovely wife, Irene, are expecting their first child.\u003cp\u003eBut when a new murder case hits his desk--a double torture-homicide that's so extreme that even the most seasoned officers are horrified-Verhoeven is overcome with a sense of foreboding.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs links emerge between the bloody set-piece and at least one past unsolved murder, it becomes clear that a calculating serial killer is at work. The press has a field day, taking particular pleasure in putting Verhoeven under the media spotlight (and revealing uncomfortable details of his personal life).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen Verhoeven makes a breakthrough discovery: the murders are modeled after the exploits of serial killers from classic works of crime fiction. The double murder was an exquisitely detailed replication of a scene from Bret Easton Ellis's \u003ci\u003eAmerican Psycho\u003c\/i\u003e, and one of the linked cold cases was a faithful homage to James Ellroy's \u003ci\u003eThe Black Dahlia\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe media circus reaches a fever pitch when the modus operandi of the killer, dubbed \"The Novelist,\" is revealed. Worse, the Novelist has taken to writing taunting letters to the police, emphasizing that he will stop leaving any clues behind unless Verhoeven remains on the case.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor reasons known only to the killer, the case has become personal. With more literature--inspired murders surfacing, Verhoeven enlists the help of an eccentric bookseller and a professor specializing in crime fiction to try to anticipate his adversary's next move. Then Irene is kidnapped.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith time running out, Verhoeven realizes that all along he's been the unwitting dupe in The Novelist's plans to create an original work of his own. Now, the only person in the world the commandant truly cares for is in danger, and a happy ending seems less and less likely as it becomes clear that the winner of this deadly game may be the man with the least to lose.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56295066435957,"sku":"9780857056245","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780857056245_67d3d14d-601a-4d32-90f8-f2d6c2746dfa.jpg?v=1786016245"},{"product_id":"9780857056283","title":"Camille","description":"In his acclaimed, award-winning novels \u003ci\u003eAlex \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eIrène,\u003c\/i\u003e Pierre Lemaitre created an unforgettable character in Police Commandant Camille Verhoeven. Now, in \u003ci\u003eCamille,\u003c\/i\u003e the final volume in Lemaitre's internationally bestselling trilogy of \"meta-meta detective\" novels (\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e), Verhoeven faces his most harrowing case yet, and the ultimate reckoning for the diminutive yet tenacious protagonist.\u003cp\u003eAnne Forestier finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time when she is trapped in the middle of a bank robbery. Shot three times, she is lucky to survive-and morbidly unlucky to remember the face of her assailant.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFollowed home from her hospital bed, Anne is in grave danger. But one thing stands in her favor-a dangerously vengeful partner, carrying the scars of devastating loss, who will break all the rules to protect the woman he loves: Commandant Camille Verhoeven.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFollowing the horror of\u003ci\u003e Irène\u003c\/i\u003e and the thrills of \u003ci\u003eAlex, Camille\u003c\/i\u003e is the heart-stopping final chapter. Drawn once again into a labyrinthine web with answers ever out of reach, Camille must draw on all his talent to face an enemy who threatens everything he holds dear.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56295118799221,"sku":"9780857056283","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780857056283_72fcb7dc-b97a-4673-baad-65559622320d.jpg?v=1786016247"},{"product_id":"9780857056658","title":"Three Days and a Life","description":"In 1999, in the small provincial town of Beauval, France, twelve-year-old Antoine Courtin accidentally kills a young neighbor boy in the woods near his home. Panicked, he conceals the body and to his relief--and ongoing shame--he is never suspected of any connection to the child's disappearance. \u003cp\u003eBut the boy's death continues to haunt him, shaping his life in unseen ways. More than a decade later, Antoine is living in Paris, now a young doctor with a fiancée and a promising future. On a rare trip home to the town he hates and fears, Antoine thoughtlessly sleeps with a beautiful young woman from his past. She shows up pregnant at his doorstep in Paris a few months later, insisting that they marry.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMeanwhile, the newly discovered body of Antoine's childhood victim means that the case has been reopened, and all of his old fears rush back. With the gravitational pull of his hometown strengthening its grip, Antoine may finally be forced to confront his past. Is he prepared to do what he must to keep his darkest secrets buried?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56295197999477,"sku":"9780857056658","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780857056658_39bff4b1-d0e4-492c-9df9-d8c696f94607.jpg?v=1786016252"},{"product_id":"9781848665798","title":"The Great Swindle","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the prestigious Prix Goncourt, a timeless story of how war transforms lives in unexpected and often tragic ways as seen through the eyes of three World War I vets\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe year is 1918, the war on the Western Front all but over. An ambitious officer, Lieutenant Henry D'Aulnay-Pradelle, sends two soldiers over the top and then surreptitiously shoots them in the back to incite his men to attack the German lines.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen another of D'Aulnay-Pradelle's soldiers, Albert Maillard, reaches the bodies and discovers how they died, the lieutenant shoves him into a shell hole to silence him. Albert is rescued by fellow soldier, the artist Edouard Péricourt, who takes a bullet in the face. The war ends and both men recover, but Edouard is permanently disfigured, and fakes his death to prevent his family from seeing him as a cripple. In gratitude for Edouard's rescue, Albert becomes the injured man's companion and caregiver.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFinding that the postwar gratitude for the soldiers' service is nothing more than lip-service to an empty idea, the two men scramble to survive, ultimately devising a scam to take money for never-to-be-built war memorials from small towns. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Pradelle has married Edouard's sister Madeline and is running a scam of his own that involves the exhumation of war victims.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this sorrowful, heart-searching novel, the interwoven lives of these three men create a tapestry of the human condition as seen through the lens of war, revealing brutality and compassion, heroism and cowardice, in equal measure.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56307917062517,"sku":"9781848665798","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781848665798_6a146e2e-2af4-41de-8141-7f2397721391.jpg?v=1786029167"},{"product_id":"9781848666009","title":"Blood Wedding","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSophie is haunted by the things she can't remember - and visions from the past she will never forget.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne morning, she wakes to find that the little boy in her care is dead. She has no memory of what happened. And whatever the truth, her side of the story is no match for the evidence piled against her.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Her only hiding place is in a new identity. A new life, with a man she has met online.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  But Sophie is not the only one keeping secrets . . .\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor fans of \u003cb\u003eGone Girl\u003c\/b\u003e and Lemaitre's own internationally bestselling \u003cb\u003eAlex\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003eBlood Wedding\u003c\/b\u003e is a compelling psychological thriller with a formidable female protagonist.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTranslated from the French by Frank Wynne\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56308409172341,"sku":"9781848666009","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781848666009_0adb1bd6-95de-418b-9f64-3c511836ae26.jpg?v=1786029170"},{"product_id":"alex-1","title":"Alex","description":"\u003cb\u003eSHE'S RUNNING OUT OF TIME\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Alex Prévost - kidnapped, beaten, suspended from the ceiling of an abandoned warehouse in a wooden cage - is in no position to bargain. Her abductor's only desire is to watch her die.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eHE WANTS ONLY ONE THING\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Apart from a shaky police report, Commandant Camille Verhœven has nothing to go on: no suspect, no leads. If he is to find Alex, he will have to get inside her head.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eESCAPE IS JUST THE BEGINNING\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Resourceful, tough, beautiful, always two steps ahead - Alex will keep Verhœven guessing till the bitter end. And before long, saving her life will be the least of his worries.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57504792019317,"sku":"9781529453201","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781529453201.jpg?v=1786953709"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-pierre-lemaitre.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}