FILM RIGHTS ION OF FRENCH BOOKS AFM 2016 T LOS ANGELES SELEC

A DESIGNED BY Line Célo Mathieu Roger-Lacan

PRINTED IN USA BY Printex

PUBLISHED BY Office for Cultural Affairs and the Creative Industries Consulate General of France in Los Angeles 10390, Santa Monica Blvd Los Angeles CA 90025 [email protected] frenchculture.org

THIS PUBLICATION IS SUPPORTED BY Institut français

2 Shoot the Book! L.A. SECOND EDITION

Organized by the French Embassy’s Mission for Culture and Higher Education in the United States and the Institut français, Shoot the Book! LA is the US edition of Shoot the Book!, a collective endeavor of French publishers under the banner of the Société Civile des Editeurs de Langue Française (SCELF) and the Bureau Interna- tional de l’Edition Française (BIEF) launched at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014. Shoot the Book! L.A. was made possible thanks to the support of the SCELF, the CFC (Centre Français du droit de Copie) and the SOFIA (SOciété Française des Intérêts des Auteurs de l’écrit). Shoot the Book! comes to Los Angeles this year again. This second edition is de- signed as a platform to display a selection of titles from France’s front-line publi- shing houses, which have been selected by leading American film professionals for their potential as screen adaptations for film, television and other digital formats. Each book is presented in its main storylines, with a synthesis of key information and the person to contact if you would like to know more. The titles presented by re- presentatives for the Mediatoon Group (Dargaud and Dupuis), the Place des Édi- teurs Group (Belfond and Presses de la Cité), Denoël, Albin Michel and C.A.L. Agency (Plon) offer a varied selection of France’s literary production today, giving an overview of the vitality of the French publishing world, from graphic novels to science-fiction, crime, memoir, drama and comedy. The event will be moderated by Steven Gaydos, Vice-President, Executive Editor, Variety. In connecting French and American professionals in the framework of the American Film Market (AFM), Shoot the Book! L.A. seeks to nourish creative and business links between France and the United States.

Members of the Jury

Bob Bookman, Senior Motion Picture and Television Agent, Paradigm. Franklin Leonard, Film Executive and Founder of The Black List. Andrea McCall, Senior Vice President, DreamWorks. Howard A. Rodman, President, WGAW.

Moderator

Steven Gaydos, Vice President, Executive Editor, Variety.

3 Shoot the Book! is based on a call for submissions to all French publishers. Out of the 21 titles presented to the selection committee, 5 titles have been chosen. Each title was represented by one audio-visual rights manager who then chose another title for the pitching session. This booklet introduces the 10 pitched books, organized by representative, and the 16 other titles, organized by publishing house. Pitched Books

8 Albin Michel | The Paris Lawyer – Sylvie Granotier 9 Albin Michel | The Black Line – Jean-Christophe Grangé

10 Denoël | The Deep Sea Diver’s Syndrome – S. Brussolo 11 Denoël | Still Dust Remains – Sandrine Collette

12 Dargaud | Jazz Maynard – Raul & Roger 13 Dupuis | Monika – Barboni & March

14 Belfond | Mary’s Diary – Alexandra Echkenazi 15 Presses de la Cité | Don’t Let Go – Michel Bussi

16 Plon | The Great Silence – Loup Durand 17 Plon | Where the Light Collapses – Guillaume Sire Other Titles

19 Actes Sud | Collector – Olivier Bonnard 20 Au Diable Vauvert | The Rest of Their Life – Jean-Paul Didierlaurent 21 Auteurs d’aujourd’hui | I died Yesterday – Patrick Jaulent 22 Fayard | The Honey Club – Célhia de Lavarène 23 Flammarion | Paris by Night – Pauline Flepp 24 French Pulp Editions | Clash Generation – G. Morris Dumoulin 25 Futuropolis | Genetiks – Marazano & Ponzio 26 Gallimard jeunesse | Aâma – F. Peeters 27 Grasset | The Seventh Function of Language – Laurent Binet 28 Hachette livre | Chasing Sleeping Beauty – C. Féret-Fleury 29 Heloïse d’Ormesson | In Praise of Cellulite and Other Misfortunes – Dominique Dyens 30 Le Lombard | Baghdad Inc. – Desberg & Legrain 31 Rouergue | In the Starlit Meadows – Marie-Sabine Roger 32 L’Olivier/Le Seuil | The Great Mariner – Catherine Poulain 33 Univers Poche | A Breath, a Shade – Christian Carayon 34 Le Verger des Hespérides | The Hidden Monastery – Pierre Stolze

Office for Cultural Affairs and the Creative Industries Consulate General of France in Los Angeles 10390 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 410, Los Angeles, CA 90025 [email protected] frenchculture.org

4 ALBIN MICHEL Founded in 1900, Editions Albin Michel boasts a catalogue of over 6,000 working titles and publishes 500 new ones each year. Combining authors of prestige and newly discovered talents, Albin Michel’s cata- logue includes many successful French and foreign authors who, for the most part, also enjoy international recognition. Albin Michel is today one of the most important independent publishing groups in France.

DENOËL Since its creation in 1930, Denoël has been publishing diverse literary genres and prestigious authors from the entire world: Louis Aragon, Isaac Asimov, Blaise Cendrars, Robert Crumb, Hans Fallada, Norman Mailer, Curzio Malaparte, Arto Paasilinna, Georges Perec, Sylvia Plath, Jean Rhys, Sempé, Patti Smith and many more. Across different series, Denoël publishes around 50 titles per year: li- terary and commercial fiction, crime stories and thrillers, science fic- tion and fantasy, essays and non-fiction, graphic novels and illustrated books. Denoël is part of the Gallimard Group.

DARGAUD & DUPUIS For more than half a century, Dargaud and Dupuis have been writing essential chapters in the history of graphic novels. With Dupuis’ count- less iconic figures – such as Lucky Luke, Spirou, Boule & Bill, The Smurfs, Cédric, Le Petit Spirou, Kid Paddle, and Largo Winch – and the many cult series of Dargaud – such as Valerian, Blueberry, XIII or Achille Talon – both publishing houses have cultivated a passionate pu- blic following. Each year, 5 million Dupuis and 8 million Dargaud comics and graphic novels are sold across the globe and approximately thirty audiovisual adaptation projects are signed.

5 PLACE DES EDITEURS (BELFOND & PRESSES DE LA CITE) Place des Editeurs is an internationally leading group composed of twelve different publishing companies (including Belfond and Presses de la Cité), and covers a wide range of books: international and French fiction, non-fiction, practical guides, illustrated books, travel guides and children’s books. Place des Editeurs is synonymous with international successes. Many of their books have been adapted for screen and TV, such as Harlan Coben’s Tell No One and No Second Chance, Douglas Kennedy’s The Woman in the Fifth starring Ethan Hawke or the Swe- dish bestseller The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.

PLON Plon publications, a major player in French publishing since 1852. To enlighten readers on the changes in our society, to provide the keys to better analyse the news, to give a voice to French and foreign litera- ture, to share their enthusiasm and discover “human territories” - these are just a few of the goals of the Plon publications.

6 PITCHED BOOKS SETTING Catherine, a young Parisian lawyer assigned to defend Paris – Creuse (French countryside) a woman accused of poisoning her husband, sees an CHARACTERS old unsolved case resurface: a crime involving her own Female – 30 Male – 55 mother. Male – 45

DETECTIVE NOVEL FILM AND FOREIGN RIGHTS GUIDE Film rights available.

PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL AVAILABLE English translation available (American edition)

The Paris Lawyer FIND OUT MORE The novel received the Prix du Polar LA RIGOLE DU DIABLE Sang d’Encre 2011 awarded to a SYLVIE GRANOTIER French-language detective novel.

Catherine, a young Parisian lawyer, has a murder case to defend. It’s a big step in her budding career, overseen by her kind yet stern and intimidating boss, Maître Renaud. She heads to the scene of the crime in the Creuse region, where she spent her earliest years before her mother’s murder, which obviously continues to haunt her. Her father has never come to terms with his wife’s death and never talks about it. When she was 16 and supposed to be celebrating her high school graduation, her dad brought up her mother’s death. He said she could ask him anything she wanted but, after that, they would never discuss it again. It was then she realized she needed to go away to live her life. She went to Paris to study law. Catherine’s client, Myriam, is an undocumented African immigrant accused of poisoning her husband, Gaston, a farmer she married 6 years earlier. She was his sole heir. His cousins, who’d counted on his inheritance, remembered a jar of cyanide from an abandoned gold mine that had disappeared from Gaston’s barn. They requested an autopsy and learned that Gaston had in fact been poisoned. As Catherine builds her case, she discovers her lover Cedric was once her mother’s lover. For a while, she suspects him of the crime. WHY THIS BOOK? But Cedric actually knows who the killer is and lets her find out for herself. Catherine’s dynamic, en- In the meantime, Catherine gets Myriam acquitted... despite proof of dearing energy fuels the the woman’s guilt. interplay between a grip- Catherine asks her father to take her to the spot where he scattered ping first career move and her mother’s ashes. She gets ahead of him on the path and encounters coming to terms with her Cedric. Convinced he has come to murder her as he did her mother, own terrible and mysterious she tries to run but he catches her. Her father comes to her rescue. past. When the suspense Cedric fights with her father but Catherine bashes him with a rock. As is over, Catherine has final- her father tells her he knows Cedric is her lover too, all of a sudden ly come into her own. Catherine realizes it was her father, jealous and overprotective of the child he raised alone, careful to keep the painful past buried, who killed her mother when she was a girl. She teeters on the edge of the cliff but her father pulls her back. Then he falls. After that night where the two men battled hand-to-hand, Cedric is in the hospital and Catherine’s father is dead. Catherine and Cedric go their separate ways. She advises Myriam to come clean about her false identity. She meets a man in the train and asks him about the book he’s reading. A new story? Éditions Albin Michel Marie Dormann Subrights Director + 33 1 42 79 10 29 8 [email protected] SETTING In a Malay prison, Jacques Reverdi, an ex-world Today – Paris – Asia – Sicily champion free diver and a particularly ruthless serial CHARACTERS

THRILLER killer, awaits trial and execution. In Paris, Mark Marc – 40 – Male Jacques – 55 – Male Dupeyrat, a journalist captivated by Reverdi’s crimes, Khadidja – 30 – Female sets up a trap to gain the killer’s trust: he invents a FIND OUT MORE character, Elisabeth, a student fascinated by crime and Film rights available Available editions: French, Chinese, starts a correspondence with him. A man with a German, Spanish, Russian, powerful imagination… Portuguese, Italian, Korean, Turkish, Danish, Swedish The Black Line 1 million copies sold LA LIGNE NOIRE JEAN-CHRISTOPHE GRANGÉ

Malaysia. Jacques Reverdi is imprisoned in a hermetically-sealed bamboo cage. He cannot breathe, but what frightens him even more is the blood that’s oozing slowly but surely along the ground… At his side, the horribly lacerated body of a young woman has just been discovered. This is not the first time he’s been accused of murder: he is the worst kind of serial killer. He was once an internationally known sportsman, world record holder in ‘no limit’ free diving. He gave up competition in the middle of the eighties and has been living in South- East Asia for ten years, teaching underwater diving. In Paris, Marc Dupeyrat, former paparazzi now specialized in crime articles, is obsessed by Reverdi’s murders. He decides to go all the way to South-East Asia to try and understand his urge to kill. He works out a clever plan to rouse Reverdi’s interest. Dupeyrat addresses him under the pen name of Elisabeth, who pretends to be a ‘fan’. The photo he sends of ‘Elisabeth’ is in reality a young model he met in his photographer friend’s studio, a magnificent young woman from North African called Khadidja. Reverdi takes the bait, and accepts to correspond with Elisabeth. He eventually finds himself falling in love with her. Begins a macabre chase through Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand, as the killer sets WHY THIS BOOK? enigmas to be solved and reveals clues. Sure that he has uncovered all the killer’s secrets, Marc breaks off all The Black Line: a blood contact with Reverdi and comes back to Paris to write a novel directly line with no more oxygen... inspired by his morbid mentor. The book is an immediate best-seller. Weaves a captivating and Meanwhile Khadidja has been highly successful in modelling and endearing story within the huge posters show her wild, beautiful face all over the walls of Paris… thriller format. Three deep But deep down Mark is anxious, because he knows there is one thing dark characters, with heavy the killer will never forgive… betrayal. Fortunately Reverdi will be pasts, truly described and tried soon, and certainly sentenced to death. animated in their fear, troubles and traumas. However, the police organise a re-enactment and Reverdi manages A perfect psychological to escape by provoking an accident over a river and diving. Shortly revelation. after, all the witnesses start disappearing in horrific circumstances… The killer kidnaps Marc and Khadidja. He makes them undergo his dreadful ritual, telling them the origins of his pain and trauma (his foolish and nymphomaniac mother and a certain rattan trunk in her bedroom). They are saved in extremis by the police. After a long and painful convalescence, the couple learns the certain death of Reverdi, and looks forward to having time to heal all their wounds. But the murders continue… Reverdi has an imitator, following in his trail. It is finally in Catania, Sicily, that Khadidja understands, just in time: Marc is the one who killed many people before — his best friend Éditions Albin Michel a long time ago, his first wife, and more recently, a cop... He tried to Marie Dormann kill her. In a final battle, he dies and she escapes in the Sicilian sun. Subrights Director + 33 1 42 79 10 29 Alive. 9 [email protected] SETTING David is a dream hunter. Whenever he is commissioned A big city in the near future

SCI-FI to dive into the heart of slumber, he has to bring back CHARACTERS strange objects of priceless value in a world gone David Sarella – Male – 40 Nadia – Female – 30 numb and monitored. Yet David struggles to come Jorgo – Male – 20 back from these dream-like expeditions, far more FILM AND FOREIGN RIGHTS GUIDE exciting than his dull real life. At the peril of his life, he Film rights available – English language book rights sold to Melville attempts to smuggle one last time into the dream free House, published in the USA (January, zone… 2016) FIND OUT MORE Serge Brussolo is the author of nearly two hundred books in every possible The Deep Sea genre – dark fantasy, horror, historical fiction, young adult fiction, thrillers, and literary fiction. His books, consistently Diver’s Syndrome bestsellers, have won every major French science-fiction prize and are LE SYNDROME DU SCAPHANDRIER considered modern classics. Several have been made into films. SERGE BRUSSOLO

David is a dream hunter. For his clients, and whenever the call from the depths is felt, he dives into the heart of slumber, and brings back strange, ectoplasmic objects whose mysterious and beneficial powers are highly sought after by avid private collectors and state alike. In a real world where arts have vanished and dream-like ectoplasms have become the most accomplished and valued art form, David is just a run-of-the-mill civil servant. Marianne, an unyielding psychonurse from the Ministry of Culture, closely monitors his diving. In dreams, with the help of his two sidekicks, the temptress Nadia and the young Jorgo, he lives a far more exciting and dangerous life, far away from his mundane real life: that of a high-flying burglar, a heroic gang leader with muscles of steel. He is also falling for Nadia. With each dive, bringing back treasures becomes a little riskier, and nightmares can kick in anytime. Not to mention the Deep Sea Diver’s syndrome, a vitrification of the brain caused by too much diving, a condition that affected many divers before him, which he wants to avoid at all costs. Whenever he is back from diving, and in spite of the ensuing physical and mental damage, David only aspires to one thing: to break free from the suffocating and anaesthetized real world and the lonely life WHY THIS BOOK? he leads in it. He is madly in love with Nadia, and only wishes to be reunited with her. The line between dream and reality becomes Reminiscent of Inception increasingly blurry in his mind. The strange clairvoyant “gift” he and Jacob’s Ladder. A inherited from his mother caused him to live a painful childhood, and major piece of Sci-Fi, often feels like a curse. Only Antonine, his sensual, ectoplasm-loving highly addictive, dealing with timeless fascinating neighbor, gives him a measure of comfort. topics: escaping from Simultaneously, David finds out the ever-popular ectoplasms are reality, the power of used as tranquilizers to forget about a dull and threatening world dreams, society’s where everything is under surveillance. Furthermore, his obsession oppression of individuals, for dreaming spirals out of control, a fact that does not go unnoticed the yearning for absolute by the Ministry. freedom. After a disastrous diving, David is suspended, which causes him to tip over the edge, and to decide to embark on one last diving, a last chance to give his life a meaning. But the meanderings of the abyss are home to dangers as perilous as the ones in real life. David has no choice: to win the game, he needs to dive right into the very heart of Editions Denoël the depths, where no dreamer ever dared to venture before, at the Judith Becqueriaux risk of never returning… Rights Manager [email protected] 10 + 33 1 44 39 73 76 SETTING In an isolated land, a mother and her four sons Argentina, somewhere on the NOIR NOIR desperately try to make a living on their meager farm. Patagonia plateau In this deadly enclosed setting, they have all become CHARACTERS Rafael – Male – 10 to 12 one another’s tormentors... Drama could strike at any The Mother – Female – 40 second. Only Rafael, the youngest son, seems to have Mauro & Joaquin, Males –16 Steban – Male – 14 preserved his humanity and his innocence. Will he be FILM AND FOREIGN RIGHTS GUIDE able to escape this nightmarish home? . Film rights available – English language book rights sold in the USA to Europa Editions, to be published in 2017

FIND OUT MORE Still Dust Remains Sandrine Collette (b. 1970) divides her time between writing and working on IL RESTE LA POUSSIÈRE her horse farm. She is the author of three bestsellers, including Des SANDRINE COLLETTE Nœuds d’acier (2013 - Best Crime Novel Prize) Argentina, the Patagonia plateau, on an isolated farm at the dawn of the last century. On a breathtakingly beautiful, vast, and arid steppe swept by glacial winds, a little boy is pursued by three horsemen. Once captured, he is tossed from one to the other in a deranged race. The badly beaten boy is then thrown into a thorny bush. The boy is Rafael and his tormentors are his older brothers: the inseparable twins, Mauro and Joaquin, and Steban, known as “The Idiot” because he is mute. Their hardworking mother is also a woman of few words. Ever since the terrible night when their drunkard father hit her one too many times, she has walled herself off in hostile silence, keeping a dark secret: that fateful night, she killed their father and disposed of his body in the neighboring marshes. Ever since then, she has made it seem as though he left them and manages her sons and her meager livestock farm with an iron fist, crushing the boys with her severity and her indifference. The older brothers have always hated their youngest brother, who was born after their father’s disappearance, and made him the target of their brutal games and their bullying. He is another mouth to feed and times are hard. The whipping boy in this family eroded by hatred, Rafael is alone in the world and lives for his horse and his dog. He understood long ago how useless it was to seek affection elsewhere. In this moribund world where small farms in death throes are being replaced by immense properties, hope seems out of reach and revolt WHY THIS BOOK? is impossible. The farm is on the verge of ruin, but selling is out of the question. The heavy atmosphere is menacing. It is only a matter of Still Dust Remains is first time before a new drama hits, and alcohol and gambling will only add and foremost an unfor- fuel to the fire. gettable, dusky Western One evening, the mother gambles and loses Joaquin, one of the marked by its fragile beauty twins, in a card game and must resign herself to seeing him leave for and infused with strange a distant farm. Mauro, his brother, is devastated by their separation poetry. From this relent- and feeds dark thoughts of revenge. Violence broods and the tension less mechanism of cruelty and redemption emerges level rises. Rafael, who let one of their precious horses slip out one a young, resilient, and ex- morning, is brutally chased from the farm and told not to come back traordinarily radiant hero. until he has relocated the animal. But on the road, on the harshest and most painful day of his life, Rafael will meet someone... and this unexpected encounter will turn his destiny on its head.

Editions Denoël Judith Becqueriaux Rights Manager [email protected] 11 + 33 1 44 39 73 76 SETTING Sometimes a liar, a bit of a cheater, always a robber, City Jazz Maynard has more than one tune to his melody! CHARACTERS A jazz player, a protective brother and a faithful friend, Jazz – 30 – Male Teo – 30 – Male he is always ready to protect his own. Even if it Judas – 30 – Male means going back to the gangland he grew up in to Laura – 28 – Female Lucia – 30 – Female

THRILLER — ACTION ACTION THRILLER — pay a debt of honor! Mr Chen – 55 – Male Cebes – 50 – Male

FILM AND FOREIGN RIGHTS GUIDE English, Italian, Spanish and Dutch Jazz Maynard translations available JAZZ MAYNARD FIND OUT MORE RAULE / ROGER Le Soir International Award 2010 Diagonal Award for Best Foreign Album They were three kids, brought up on the street: the best robbers in the neighborhood. The local mafia scouted them and asked them to join. Jazz and Teo declined, Judas accepted… Some years later, Jazz, inevitably, is a jazz musician, in New York, no less. While he has left his hometown, he has not forgotten his thieving habits; as agile with the notes of his trumpet as he is with close combat, his reputation has traveled the world. When someone dares to attack Laura, his little sister, he puts an end to his 10 years on the run and returns to his hometown. Back there, he reconnects with his childhood friend Teo, who is the same trickster as ever, and Judas, the brand new Godfather. He also comes across Lucia, his first love, who is now a journalist. Despite tracking crimes in her columns, the beautiful young woman is in a relationship with Judas. To avenge Laura and to protect Lucia, who is in danger, the trio wastes no time in reconciling to restore order to their neighborhood. Set in the underworld of small-time leaders and big bosses, a tangled web of crime and betrayal drags the trumpeter from the gutters to the most corrupt penthouses in town. And the deeper Jazz goes, the more he realizes the truth behind it all: everything has been orchestrated to drag him into his past, and go back to being the cunning thief he once was. But the trumpeter has more than one trick up his sleeve, and he’ll do everything in his power to come out on top, along with his friends. What starts as a heist movie soon develops much further, exploring WHY THIS BOOK? the complexity of human relationships. We see how childhood friends can become bitter enemies, before uniting again for a common A sophisticated thriller with cause. The climax of this drama is complex and captivating, just like as much rhythm in the substance of the narrative the main characters. as the main character him- Combining exciting twists, sharp one-liners and incredible fight self. Set in a contemporary scenes, Jazz Maynard is the perfect combination of Howard Hawks’ environment with a hushed old film noirs and Guy Ritchie’s intense thrillers. atmosphere, reflecting the life of gangsters and the world of jazz.

Dargaud Laurent Duvault Director of audiovisual development 12 [email protected] SETTING A seductive and perverse thriller in which Monika will City have to take on multiple personalities to solve her CHARACTERS sister’s disappearance, while risking losing herself in Monika – 25 – Female Erika – 30 – Female a shadowy world of burlesque and masquerade. Theo – 25 – Male Christian – 35 – Male

FILM AND FOREIGN RIGHTS GUIDE English, Spanish, Italian, and German Monika translations available PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL — INVESTIGATION — EROTICA — INVESTIGATION MONIKA AVAILABLE Complete series, 2 volumes available BARBONI & MARCH in English

FIND OUT MORE THRILLER ­ Illustrator Guillem March is one of DC Monika, a young visual artist, is trying to find her sister Erika, who Comics’ top artists, and one of the main talents working on the Batman disappeared two years earlier under mysterious circumstances. Universe. She is helped by her childhood friend, Theo, an IT genius and specialist in robotics, whose dream is to construct an android of his own. On the run from his ex-employers after stealing some highly sophisticated equipment, he is now hiding out at Monika’s. Thanks to a series of increasingly strange clues, Monika discovers that before her disappearance, her sister was the mistress of Christian Epson, a brilliant politician and founder of a new political party: the New Reformist Left (NRL). On the eve of the elections, both the left and right are out to destroy him, as his ambitious project gathers more and more support. A man of powerful appetites and a pleasure seeker, he regularly attends shady masquerade balls where other notable personalities rub shoulders under the cover of anonymity. It is a seedy nocturnal world for lovers of strong stimulation. Monika finally decides to get in touch with him. Slipping under a new identity, she becomes a powerful and seductive creature of the night that he immediately falls for. Together, they enter into a vicious game of seduction, and when his name is cleared in Erika’s disappearance, Monika, too, starts to fall in love with this seductive but dangerous man. However, things change when a terrorist group launches a series of attacks across the city. Christian begins to feel more and more threatened, and suspects Monika. But she has her own information WHY THIS BOOK? that could implicate Erika as part of the movement. Taking on countless different identities, Monika moves closer and closer to uncovering the Monika is a fascinating truth. game of masks in which Finally, Erika returns on the scene. Troubled and psychopathic, she the heroine reveals herself aims to blow up her sister’s plans, and the two siblings engage in a to be a chameleon, capable lethal cat and mouse game that Theo may not survive. All of which of assuming many identi- leads to one final confrontation between the two sisters… ties… until she finds herself entangled in a steamy but deadly love triangle.

Dupuis Laurent Duvault Director of audiovisual development 13 [email protected] SETTING A fascinating immersion into 1960s America, this novel The United States brings to life the complex destiny of the woman who DRAMA CHARACTERS played a decisive role in one of the greatest mysteries Mary Meyer John Fitzgerald Kennedy of the 20th century... Cord, Mary’s husband Mary’s Diary LE JOURNAL DE MARY ALEXANDRA ECHKENAZI

Washington, mid-1960s. Mary Meyer, who has French roots, lives with her husband Cord, a high-ranking CIA officer, and their three children in the residential district of Georgetown, where the couple rub shoulders with high society and the elite of the political world. Mary is a feminist and a pacifist —classified by the FBI as a left-wing activist—, as well as a painter and she leads the life of an intellectual, keenly absorbing all the new experiences that are available to her in this pre-1968 period. When her youngest child dies in an accident, Mary’s life falls apart. She leaves her husband and she settles down on her own with her two remaining children. At this point, she bumps once again into a man whom she had known at college and her earlier passions are reignited. The man in question is John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Until he becomes president, the two lovers are able to see each other on a regular basis. But after he is elected, their relationship becomes more difficult to manage, not least because Jackie Kennedy has cottoned on and seems determined to cut the mistress out of her husband’s life. Sensing that her lover is less committed and that their affair is doomed, Mary decides to distance herself and finds solace in the arms of the painter Kenneth Noland. But Kennedy cannot bear the idea of losing her and pulls out all the stops to win her back. Mary finally agrees to remain the secret love of this man, whose WHY THIS BOOK? public role prevents him from ever making their relationship official. And yet she is the one who plays an active role in the shadows, at his How can it be that, 50 side. years on, the general Mary is modern in outlook, too much so in the opinion of some, and public is still not aware of makes no secret of her desire to change the world. The man she Mary Meyer’s existence? loves so deeply dies in Dallas on 22 November 1963, and then she Why has her murder never dies in her turn a year later, murdered on the banks of the Potomac, been cleared up? Le just two days before her 44th birthday. The journal she kept was Journal de Mary would never found. It is the journal of the true love of JFK. make a fascinating film, combining elements of a political thriller, a passionate love story and the character study of a remarkable woman.

Place des Editeurs Alexandra Buchman Rights Director alexandra.buchman@ placedesediteurs.com 14 +33 1 44 16 05 76 SETTING When he becomes the number-one suspect in the The Reunion Island disappearance of his wife, Martial goes on the run with CHARACTERS

THRILLER their six-year-old daughter. With the police on his heels, Martial Bellion Sofa Bellion he has to resurrect the ghosts of his ‘first life’ in an Aja Purvi attempt to save the two people he cherishes most in FILM AND FOREIGN RIGHTS GUIDE the world. Rights sold in: Germany, The Netherlands, Russia, Taiwan, Poland, Vietnam, Korea, Italy, UK

Don’t Let Go FIND OUT MORE NE LÂCHE PAS MA MAIN More than 490,000 copies sold MICHEL BUSSI

Liane and Martial Bellion, a young Parisian couple, have treated themselves to a dream holiday on the Reunion Island with their little six-year-old daughter, Sofa. But one afternoon, while they are lounging by the pool, Liane goes up to their room to change and fails to come back down… After an hour, Martial goes up to the room himself. The place has been ransacked, their possessions are strewn across the room, and there are blood stains everywhere, but no trace of his wife. Crazy with worry, he informs the staff at the Hotel Alamanda and calls the police. The young captain of the Gendarmerie, Aja Purvi, arrives quickly at the scene. But by the following morning, no progress has been made. Aja has been joined by her partner, Christos Konstantinov, who examines the room with his Lumi-Light kit, which reveals extensive blood stains on both the floor and the walls. Meanwhile, Aja questions each of the hotel staff in turn. Their statements all contradict Martial’s version of the facts. Eve-Marie Nativel, the cleaning lady, states that she saw him going up to the room after a quarter of an hour and that she lent him her laundry trolley at his request. Unexpectedly, after helping the police with their enquiries for twenty- four hours, Martial Bellion goes on the run in his hire car, taking his daughter with him. He becomes the number one suspect in the kidnapping of his wife… But Martial is in fact innocent. The investigators eventually establish that he was not a simple tourist at all but had in fact already spent an WHY THIS BOOK? extended period on the island, and had even been married for two Excellent film potential: a years to a local woman, Graziella, the owner of a restaurant by the paradisiac setting, sea. They had a little boy together called Alex, who drowned in tragic charismatic characters, and circumstances. a complex plot which Following the accident, Martial left the island... only to return there for combines the loss of a a holiday many years later with his new family. But he is unaware that loved one, the redemption his ex-wife has managed to keep track of him and is unable to bear of a desperate father and the idea that he has remarried and had another child. She takes an impressive chase advantage of his holiday on the island to devise a Machiavellian plan across the island, seen to wreak vengeance on the man whom she holds responsible for the through the eyes of a little death of her son by eliminating the two people dearest to him. six-year-old girl.

Place des Editeurs Alexandra Buchman Rights Director alexandra.buchman@ placedesediteurs.com 15 +33 1 44 16 05 76 SETTING He has an incredible power, which condemns him to North America live alone in Canada’s vast far North: he reads minds. CHARACTERS

THRILLER No spirit, insect, human or animal has any secrets for Saorge Judith him. However, this supreme talent is also a crushing Elisa burden. Overwhelmed by other people’s lives since Nick Cassetti childhood, he will soon find himself hunted by ruthless mercenaries... The Great Silence LE GRAND SILENCE LOUP DURAND Saorge is a monster. More specifically, he is unique, unprecedented in the history of mankind. He can read the minds of animals. All animals, including… human beings! Unfortunately, he has had this incredible gift since childhood. When, like Saorge, you are able to hear the thoughts of all living beings around you, you run the risk of eventually being submerged by other people’s emotions and anxieties during violent epileptic seizures... In Canada’s far North, surrounded by the affection of the good doctor Gatineau, Saorge was able to grow up without going crazy. As the years passed, he ended up living a reclusive life in a solitary cabin. Full of compassion, the wise doctor had no desire to draw the entire world’s attention to Saorge, afraid of turning him into a freak or a guinea pig. However, after Gatineau’s death, the years passed and Saorge’s case eventually attracted the attention of a ruthless billionaire, determined to unravel the young man’s secrets. The operation he launches to capture and force the prodigy to cooperate becomes an endless manhunt, mobilizing the best spies and mercenaries in the world... Judith Jordaan is one of them: an experienced, hands-on woman, trained in everything and accustomed to the worst. To approach Saorge, Judith knows there is only one solution: to hide nothing from him. She even takes this a little too far... If it were up to her, the hardened spy would leave everything behind to live with Saorge. Unfortunately, she knows that the deadline would only be postponed by their fleeing, since Nick Cassetti, her formidable boss, would come and finish the contract... and execute her at the same time. WHY THIS BOOK? Meanwhile, Saorge does everything he can to convince her that he has no power. He wants to block his abilities by using drugs, and to A modern fable. venture out into the crowds in Montreal. But Saorge is attracted to Judith and finally confesses everything to her. So begins a frantic fight. Hunted by her former comrades, Judith decides to kill as many of them as she can, sacrificing herself to allow Saorge to escape. He then decides to return to the far North. One day, in the midst of his solitary wandering through nature, he meets Elisa, a young Inuit, frail and exhausted, and he falls in love for the first time in his life! But he quickly understands that this wonderful feeling is also a handicap. Because the manhunt is not over... Nick Cassetti is still chasing him. The Machiavellian spy and his group of sadistic mercenaries even almost manage to capture Saorge and Elisa. They are saved by a providential cave and the compassion of Cassetti’s bloodhound —an Indian driven half-crazy by his boss’s cruelty. Free again, Saorge and Elisa enjoy their happiness in one of the last Inuit tribes in Canada. Elisa even gives birth to twins. This perfect happiness does not last. Nick Cassetti is determined to finish things. Methodical and ruthless, he massacres the Inuit tribe. In the Canadian Arctic Circle, the confrontation between the two men Plon is extraordinarily intense... to Saorge’s advantage. Nick Cassetti is Nathalie Carpentier eventually devoured by wolves. Saorge, Elisa and their children know Directrice générale that they will finally be able to live in peace in a reconstituted Inuit C.A.L. tribe. [email protected] 16 + 33 6 25 89 25 06 SETTING Paul, a Silicon Valley magnate, turned against his North America creation: he brought together an army to destroy the CHARACTERS

THRILLER Internet. When he is shot, he hands the operation over Robin Paul to Robin, a moody programmer viscerally attached to Julia technology. How can he avenge his friend without Malone giving up his dream life in the Silicon Valley? Where the Light Collapses OÙ LA LUMIÈRE S’EFFONDRE GUILLAUME SIRE

Paul Mercier is going to die: he was just struck down in front of his long-time friend Robin Valery. What did he do to deserve this? While awaiting the emergency services, in the ambulance, then in the hospital, Robin looks back and reflects on what led them to become kings of the Silicon Valley... Their friendship centered on one passion: programming. Products of Montessori schools, students with neither hierarchy nor limits, these two boys met on Paul’s sixth birthday. Robin’s present? A Texas Instrument calculator! Both of them immediately started to investigate its possibilities. Robin, introverted and autistic, and Paul, the charismatic go-getter, hit it off immediately... Over the years, the two geniuses honed their talents. Code made them supermen, first able to communicate with machines, then to make them obey. These visionaries became risk-capital entrepreneurs. They left for California and its powerful mythological pull, where they soon became billionaires... and began to drift apart. While he waited at the hospital to see if Paul was going to live or die, Robin decided that, in the end, there was only one person responsible for this assassination attempt: Julia, Paul’s wife. With her misguided good intentions, Julia changed Paul, the digital billionaire, into a sort of new age anti-internet prophet. The man who saw the web as a tool for freedom began to see it as the biggest burden on humanity, allowing criminals to hide and multinationals to commit fraud! As usual, Paul didn’t take any shortcuts. He recruited an army of WHY THIS BOOK? hackers, developed viruses, programmed acts of sabotage, recruited 10,000 men from around the world and called it operation Pandora. A thriller that examines the Who ordered this assassination of Paul? Zuckerberg? Larry Page? most recent myth created Elon Musk? by man: the Internet. It didn’t matter, because Robin had decided to avenge his friend. He knows he is watched from all sides, notably by Malone, an FBI agent as brilliant as he was worried. But in the end, his conscience took over: did he really want to destroy the network that allowed him to flourish? Before launching Pandora, he was going to have to confront his ultimate enemy, the one who stole Paul from him: Julia. Who had just paid him an apparently innocent visit...before bringing out a gun and pointing it at him! Julia had never manipulated Paul, who did what he wanted without trusting his wife. Julia, now made aware of the situation by Agent Malone, wanted to prevent Robin from destroying what she considered to be a blessing for humanity. Robin got rid of Julia by giving her a false destruction program. Once this madwoman had left, he was going to be able to launch Pandora... But did he really want to? Did the Internet really deserve to be Plon destroyed? His lenient side took over. Robin chooses to save the Nathalie Carpentier Internet. Unaware that he had just signed his own death warrant. For Directrice générale his betrayal, he is stabbed by Diego, one of his employees... who C.A.L. from the beginning was part of Operation Pandora. [email protected] 17 + 33 6 25 89 25 06 OTHER TITLES SETTING Your inner child never dies. A time-travel mystery, Paris – Venice Collector is the story of Thomas Strang, a 30-something CHARACTERS vintage toy collector obsessed with getting hold of a Thomas Strang Alex series of Japanese robot toys which, legend has it, Penelope assemble into a time-machine set on your childhood. Tom will go back to 1985, the year he turned 11, only to ADVENTURE — SCI-FI find out you should be careful what you wish for. Collector COLLECTOR OLIVIER BONNARD

Thomas Strang is a geeky thirty-something living in Paris, France. By day, he goes as an entertainment journalist, but Tom’s got a dirty little secret: his vintage toy collection. It’s eating up his small apartment. It’s eating up his relationship with Penelope, a young nurse as grounded as he is a dreamer. But right now, Tom doesn’t care. He’s far too ecstatic about his best friend Alex, a fellow toyhunter, scoring a run in an old toy store whose owner is finally retiring. As they raid the basement, Tom stumbles upon a strange toy: a late 70’s Japanese die-cast robot from the ArkAngel toy line. Instinctively, he decides to keep it for himself. He starts investigating the toy by going to vintage toy store owner Tewfik, a controversial figure on the toyhunting scene. Tewfik steers him towards Il Dottore, an Italian collector who committed suicide after losing his vast collection to a fire, and hints at the robots’ so-called “magical properties”. After being mugged in the subway and finding his apartment ransacked, Tom comes to realize he’s landed a dangerous toy. One that some people would kill for. Alex is one of those fanatics who call themselves the “Angels”, and when he finds out about Tom’s betrayal, the old friend turns into mortal nemesis. Yet, nothing could shake Tom’s determination to find the missing robots, as he learns they really are a kind of time machine that feeds off your memories to take you back when you were the happiest. For Tom, that would be 1985. The year he turned eleven. WHY THIS BOOK? To complete his quest, he will find an unexpected ally in sexy ex-cop More than a Da Vinci Code Helen Verbal, an older woman who secretly blames herself for the for the geek generation, death of her drug-addict son. Collector is both a thrilling When in possession of the three robots, Tom combines them into treasure-hunt adventure, super-robot ArkAngel. After one final showdown, Tom wakes up in and a poignant coming of 1985. But the toy is nowhere to be seen, which tells him Alex probably age story with a time-travel tagged along. Tom got his wish, but no return ticket. twist to it. It explores the A ghost from the future, Tom begins haunting his own family. The world of toyhunters, never dream gets shattered when Tom witnesses a nasty fight between his seen before in any film or parents, who are now approximately his age. Things aren’t quite as TV series. The author lives idyllic in 1985 as he remembered them. in Los Angeles. Tom starts playing a dangerous game with his own mother, Elisabeth, thinking he might save his family by precipitating his parents’ divorce. He also plays God with Helen, now 30 and still a cop. Gradually, he realizes he’s out of place —or rather, out of time. Problem is: without ArkAngel, there’s no going back to 2007, and the robots are long gone from the stores’ shelves.

Editions Actes Sud Nathalie Alliel Audiovisual rights [email protected] 19 + 33 4 90 49 33 75 SETTING Samuel, an old man, has chosen “assisted suicide”, South of France - Switzerland but what was supposed to be the last day of his life

FICTION CHARACTERS becomes the first day of a new life. Ambroise – Male – 30s Manelle – Female – 30s Beth – Female – Old Woman Samuel – Male – Old Man

FILM AND FOREIGN RIGHTS GUIDE Film rights available. Translation rights sold in UK & The Rest of Their Commonwealth, Germany, Spain, Russia, French Canada, Bulgaria Life FIND OUT MORE J-P Didierlaurent is the author of LE RESTE DE LEUR VIE international bestseller The Reader of the 6:27 (250.000 sales in France, 30 JEAN-PAUL DIDIERLAURENT translation rights sold).

Ambroise is a single man, who works as an embalmer and lives with Beth, his grandmother. As the son of a prestigious neuroscientist who rejected him, Ambroise only has Beth left. Grandma Beth is from Brittany and has a diabetic disease. She feels very concerned about Ambroise’s loneliness, even though she is very severe with the young women he regularly introduces to her: they have to eat Beth’s best cake, the famous kouign-amann (mainly butter and sugar). Mannelle is a home-helper. Among her patients is Samuel Dinsky, a charming old man with a sad past related to WWII and the camps. When Samuel is diagnosed with a very painful brain tumour he decides to go to Switzerland to go through assisted suicide. To relieve his plan, Samuel makes up a story about a dead twin in Switzerland and asks a funeral company to drive him there —supposedly to repatriate the twin’s corpse back to France. This is how Ambroise is charged by his boss to drive Samuel to Switzerland and to come back with his brother’s corpse. But Ambroise can’t let his grandmother alone, so Beth is invited to this strange road trip. Manelle also comes, informed by Samuel of his real project, and wishing to convince him to abandon it. The relationship between Manelle and Ambroise is immediately electric. On the other hand, Beth and Samuel form a perfect duet. And Beth couldn’t be happier when Manelle eats up her kouign- amann in one sit. Arriving in Switzerland, Manelle tells the whole story to Ambroise who encourages her to respect Samuel’s choice. As they both discover each other, they start to fall in love. However, the nurse who is supposed to execute Samuel’s request WHY THIS BOOK? can’t go ahead because of his expired ID. Made desperate by Samuel’s pain, Beth suggests they make an appointment with A feel-good novel and a Ambroise‘s father who works at the WHO in Geneva and is specialized moving intergenerational in cancer. While watching the scans of Samuel, professor Henri story about love and family. Larnier, who hasn’t seen his son in years, immediately notices the The author creates an ori- mistake: Samuel’s doctor made a confusion with another patient. ginal universe, where the Doctor Larnier diagnoses a Horton disease which can be easily most insignificant charac- treated. Before leaving, Ambroise —who always believed that his ters are crazy and extraor- father was ashamed of him— visits his father’s office and discovers dinary in their humanity. It dozens of pictures of him, realizing his pride and regretting these gives out an endearing and years of absence. cosy atmosphere. The day that was supposed to be Samuel’s last day becomes instead the first day of the rest of his life and the first day of new relationships.

Au Diable Vauvert Marie-Pacifique Zeltner Rights Manager [email protected] 20 +33 6 22 05 19 78 SETTING John, a plastic surgeon in Hollywood, has built a The USA luxurious life. His family? An inconvenience, he copes CHARACTERS

THRILLER with rounds of golf. But when a voice tells him that he John Carlson Charles only has a few more hours to live, he understands that JJ the last miracle he will have to perform will have nothing Caroline Jack to do with aesthetics... I Died Yesterday JE SUIS MORT HIER PATRICK JAULENT

John Carlson has built up a fortune by becoming the favorite plastic surgeon of Hollywood’s jet set. Tonight he is given a rare privilege: he has been invited to deliver the opening speech at the famous MTV Movies Awards. It will expand his aura and fame, and further increase his customer base. Unfortunately, he finds out that this will also be his last day. The message comes from a simple voice in his bathroom, who came to tell him about his death! Of course, Carlson first denies it. Who could stop him, the successful man at the height of his career? However, between the mysterious voice —calling himself Charles— and the grim countdown displayed now permanently by his Apple Watch on his wrist, Carlson begins to have his doubts... The turning point is the car accident he witnessed, whose sole victim happened to be, by a suspicious coincidence, the only love of his life, his teenage love. From then on, Dr. Carlson began to crack. Since he’s going to die, no matter what, why not die with a clean heart? He drove to the city. Step 1: the MTV Movies Awards. Where his speech turns into a ferocious indictment against Hollywood’s so called “good society”. Step 2: get drunk with Charles until he got kicked out from the bar. Step 3: pay his mother a visit. At long last! Since he hasn’t seen her for 10 years... Step 4: redemption, finally. The Viper Room, a striptease joint... where, after a fight, he finds his daughter, Caroline. Step 5: change his will, bequeathing his life insurance to an unknown homeless lady. And take a small night lunch with JJ, his brilliant son. But one must die one day. A log on the highway finally crushes him. A few seconds before dying John cried out the name of Charles... WHY THIS BOOK? Something that made the policeman —a friend of John’s— wonder. Years later, another member of the Carlson family would be dealing Can we save our soul in 24 with a dispatcher. It’s Caroline, who never got rid of the Apple Watch hours? given by her father on that night at the Viper Room. Suffering from a serious illness, she fought to survive until her daughter’s wedding. When she collapses, just after the ceremony, her brother JJ is gradually beginning to understand the incredible truth. The nurse who’s been treating his sister for many years is also the daughter of the homeless lady to whom his father had bequeathed his life insurance! Even more incredible, the dispatcher who came to pick Caroline also happened to be their father ... No less! Feeling somewhat comforted about what awaits his sister in the great beyond, JJ, helped by Jack, the policeman, disconnected Caroline from her breathing machine. But a mysterious entity tells Jack that it came to recover the souls that the dispatcher had stolen in the process. Auteurs d’Aujourd’hui Nathalie Carpentier Directrice générale C.A.L. [email protected] 21 + 33 6 25 89 25 06 SETTING A woman who took part in a UN mission to fight human Monrovia (Liberia) trafficking in Liberia tells the story of her fight to free CHARACTERS young people forced to become sex slaves at nightclubs Celhia de Lavarène – 40s – Female Salima –16 – Female in Monrovia. A raid manages to free some but merely Hassan –15 – Male reveals the horrifying extent of the abuse, for the INVESTIGATION — INVESTIGATION FILM AND FOREIGN RIGHTS GUIDE clientele includes diplomats, NGO workers and UN Film and TV rights available LIFE STORY — DRAMA LIFE STORY officials. PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL AVAILABLE French press review available. English synopsis available.

The Honey Club FIND OUT MORE Journalist and reporter Célhia de UN VISA POUR L’ENFER Lavarène is famous for her work CÉLHIA DE LAVARÈNE fighting human trafficking. She founded “STOP” (Stop Trafficking of People), an NGO that helps victims of Célhia de Lavarène arrives in the Liberian capital Monrovia on a UN human trafficking. mission to fight human trafficking. In her own words, this 40-year old, impeccably turned-out former journalist was chosen as Kofi Annan’s special representative because she had “balls”. She heads an international police team of men who are all at least 6 inches taller than her. Célhia soon faces an increasing number of obstacles. The chaos is grotesque, and the lack of backing immediately sensible. Though she receives no help from any NGO, not even from UNICEF, she stays determined to rescue these kids and guarantee their safety. Dogged and quick-tempered, Célhia succeeds in overcoming these hurdles one by one. But her bête noire is The Honey Club, an infamous nightclub where the men of Monrovia come to abuse young North African and Eastern European girls. Norina, Salima and Hassan come to call Célhia “Mam”, meaning both “Madam” and “Mom”. Norina immediately realised that a woman visitor to The Honey Club must be willing to help them, so while dancing for the customers she surreptitiously slipped Célhia a one-word message: “Help!” Salima explained in the toilets how they ended up here. A recruiter from their village had wheedled her way into their parents’ confidence and persuaded them to let their daughters leave, promising them jobs as au-pair girls on good wages that would help their families to make ends meet. Their passports were confiscated as soon as they had reached the airport. Ever since, the teenagers have been kept captive and hired out to customers every night. Célhia promises she’ll be back. On her way out, she spots a UN vehicle, obviously a regular WHY THIS BOOK? customer. One night, Célhia and her UN police team (Nepalis, Russians, Bosnians The true story of an ad- and a Ukrainian) go into action. They surround The Honey Club, and mirable woman who over- Célhia leads her men into the premises. The team frees three girls and came all the odds to rescue a boy and seize plane tickets, passports and other documents. The a handful of abused teena- police then trace back the paper trail and discover that the traffickers gers. Célhia is still in touch were in cahoots with immigration officials. with some of them, and has Célhia’s operation is not to everyone’s liking. Raids are banned at UN since founded an NGO that headquarters in New York. Her tenacity results in a trial at a local court helps victims of human traf- during which the presiding judge falls asleep. The girls have provided ficking. the names of all their UN clients including one particularly violent man, but no charges are brought against him. The Honey Club’s owner has kept a detailed list of customers that reveal the horrifying extent of the scandal and the damage. Among the names are those of senior officials, diplomats, NGO workers and UN staff. They know they’re untouchable. The anti-trafficking unit is dismantled the same day Célhia leaves the country. Immigration officials at the airport smirk triumphantly —the bitch is leaving at last! The Honey Club reopens the next day. Fayard Carole Saudejaud Rights Director [email protected] 22 +33.1.45.49.82.48 SETTING Antoine Gardel, a renowned writer, gets infatuated with Paris – Today Esther Monod, a beautiful and mysterious student who CHARACTERS will lead him to kill her with his destructive and dark Antoine Gardel – 38 Esther Monod – 22 MELODRAMA jealousy. Before his trial, he gets to read her diary and realizes he killed a child tangled in her own lies. FIND OUT MORE Pauline Flepp is 27. She has already published Un Sourire particulier (Max Milo, 2008). Paris by Night LE ROMAN D’ESTHER PAULINE FLEPP

Antoine Gardel, a renowned 38-year-old novelist, is in jail for the murder of Esther Monod, a young literature student who was writing her dissertation on his work. While awaiting his trial, he confesses to his lawyer what really happened. Through him we get to know Esther, who seems to be the archetype of a Nouvelle Vague film heroine, a modern-day Brigitte Bardot, with her destructive beauty and fatal attraction. Antoine is totally mesmerized by Esther. We follow the birth of their love, and we fear what gradually unfolds: a passionate and destructive love that we know will take both of them on a dramatic turn. It is all the more dramatic since mid-way through the novel, the discovery of Esther’s diary, written during the last months of her life, forces Antoine to start looking at the other side of the story. Antoine realizes Esther was still a daddy’s girl submitted to his cruel and strong power. She was even abused by him and had to become this serial liar to exist and be considered. Truth is not enough for her and her narcissistic personality disorder condemns her to lie, and destroy their relationship like a curse on all her attempts to love. Le Roman d’Esther stages, with a rare acuity, a dangerous liaison by exploring its principles, such as manipulation, obsession, jealousy and the need to devour one another. While doing so, the author delivers a great novel that takes a hard look at the way fiction treats love and the deceptive fantasy of romance. The plot develops a WHY THIS BOOK? strong suspense line as the reader discovers with the main character the truth about Esther, why she behaved the way she did. We The subject of a passionate experience a totally new vision of the original story after a twist that dark love story between a could come from The Affair by Sarah Treem and Hagai Levi. The young beauty and a mature reciprocal manipulation is very strongly described and developed man is being twisted by the through these two highly self-centered main characters who recall plot, which gives the reader American Beauty by Sam Mendes. two versions of this unique melodrama. This book takes us to the shores of Le Mépris by Jean-Luc Go- dard or American Beauty by Sam Mendes.

Éditions Flammarion Laure Saget Audiovisual Rights Director [email protected] + 33 1 40 51 29 21 Jessica Boyer Audiovisual Rights Manager [email protected] 23 + 33 1 40 51 33 41 SETTING When the parents’ dream turns into a nightmare... It is The USA – The World now possible to bestow superior intelligence on our CHARACTERS children through highly sophisticated machines. Chris Chris Boyd is 12 when he begins his career as a leader, but by Maud Landsbury ADVENTURE — replacing the adults in power, do they not risk becoming

SCI-FI — Y.A. NOVEL Y.A. SCI-FI — just like them? Clash Generation GENERATION CLASH G. MORRIS DUMOULIN

America, in the near future... In order to fight crime, violence has been isolated in lawless areas, where criminals are not disturbed as long as they do not infringe on the “civilized” world. Chris Boyd, 12, slips into one of these dangerous areas one evening. He is part of the new generation educated by ultra-sophisticated machines, a generation which has acquired vast knowledge and developed disturbing intelligence. Mature, autonomous and precocious, the teenage crisis has also arrived early among these young geniuses. They live to escape the authority of parents whose shortcomings and weaknesses are only too easy to identify. There is even a court in the lawless area that judges and convicts parents who impose their authority on children. Chris files a complaint against his father who has spanked him, and wins the case. There, he meets Maud, 12, and falls in love. As proof of his precociousness, he even goes so far as to take her to bed. However, the young couple is soon faced with a terrible event. Both Chris’ and Maud’s parents are murdered by the court. The couple takes refuge in the lawless area, where Chris decides to challenge the leader of the court to a duel to avenge his parents and take power. He wins and takes leadership of the organization, accompanied by his companions, Zombi, Hoggy, Minh and Dusty... Chris comes up with a plan that works brilliantly. His talent and intelligence have given children access to supreme power. Hunted by the police and living in hiding, Chris vows to fight these usurpers to the end and to give his generation their rightful place. WHY THIS BOOK? Chris’ story continues across a Trilogy. Chris is now 15 years old, and despite the manhunt against him, he attempts to gradually unify the With their obvious visual tribes of children surviving in the territory, as the government eliminates power, these three volumes them, one by one. After several battles, the children resist but are far provide the framework for from putting an end to this dictatorship. To finish things once and for a feature film or a series all, Chris develops a bold plan: to take hostage the daughters of of three feature films. So- Cornell Hughes, the Head of the Government, in order to force him to cial issues and action are accept the children’s claims... And he succeeds. perfectly balanced, the The third volume opens with Chris, who has agreed to go to New heroes are new, and their Washington to meet Cornell Hughes, the supreme leader. Chris age brings together a wide accepts to initiate a collaboration despite his misgivings. Yet the calm audience. is short lived, and a military attack soon disturbs the regime. Chris manages to thwart the coup to calm the masses and avoid bloodshed. Ten years later, comfortably ensconced in his palace, Chris realizes he has become a leader, but that he will never be the leader of the revolution.

French Pulp Editions Nathalie Carpentier Directrice générale C.A.L. [email protected] 24 + 33 6 25 89 25 06 SETTING Thomas’s life turns upside down when the Headquarters of Genetiks – The pharmaceutical group he works for decodes his hideouts of the resistance network (a mountain summit, a subterranean genome, making him the first privatized man. Thomas grotto, an abandoned theatre)

will discover the group’s secret programme and the CHARACTERS astonishing truth about himself. Thomas Hale Alice Anne

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ADVENTURE — SUSPENSE Film rights available Translated into English (Archaia) and ANTICIPATION — THRILLER — — ANTICIPATION Genetiks Dutch (Dedalus) GENETIKS RICHARD MARAZANO & JEAN-MICHEL PONZIO

Thomas Hale is a young engineer, a bit of a loner and very involved in the research laboratory of Genetiks pharmaceutical group, where he works. A victim of recurrent and increasingly terrifying visions, Thomas is even more dismayed when his employer reveals that the lab has fully decoded the human genome, using the stem cell that Thomas, like all other Genetiks employees, had symbolically donated when he began working there. Thus Thomas becomes company property and is torn between the desire to be a part of this groundbreaking scientific adventure and the fear of no longer being his own master. One evening, at a party, he meets Alice, a young painter who is fiercely opposed to Genetiks’s activities. He finds the young woman very attractive, but her activism annoys him. Thomas then realizes that Genetiks is having him tailed by hired heavies, to make sure he does not escape them. Outraged, Thomas switches sides and joins Alice in resisting. Genetiks wants to get its hands on both of them, at any cost. In the mad chase his existence has now become, Thomas is increasingly subject to visions and experiences events that seem chronologically jumbled, passing from the world of resistance to that of the headquarters of Genetiks without any apparent logical sequence. Underlying all this, however, is the veiled discovery of Genetiks’s hidden programme, ANQA, the purpose of which is to offer immortality to a privileged few. But further surprises lie in store for Thomas. Lab WHY THIS BOOK? assistant or resistant, the Thomas he believed himself to be is only the A breathtaking thriller; an dream of another Thomas who is very real, secretly “cultivated” by original construction; an Genetiks with his fellow creatures —including Alice— for their organs, amazing ending. that are harvested and regenerated by the group in an unending cycle.

Futuropolis Frédérique Massart Film and theatre rights director Gallimard Group [email protected] 25 +33 1 49 54 42 98 SETTING Verloc Nim awakens in the middle of nowhere, Distant future on Radiant and planet amnesiac. His diary will plunge him into his past as one Ona(ji) who, as a non-conformist, sought in vain to free himself CHARACTERS Verloc Nim from a hyper-technological world. Lilja

COMIC STRIP — COMIC STRIP Professor Woland

FILM AND FOREIGN RIGHTS

SCI-FI — ADVENTURE SCI-FI — GUIDE: Film rights available Translated into German, English (UK), Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese (Brazil), Serbian Aâma Ongoing translation into Chinese FIND OUT MORE AÂMA Comics award, Le Point, 2012 FREDERIK PEETERS Best album award, Angoulême, 2013

On Radiant, a polluted world of hyper-technology where genetic manipulations and electronic implants are available to humans, Verloc and Silice have decided to have a child the natural way. As she grows up, their daughter Lilja demonstrates amazing intelligence but is incapable of establishing contact with others. Unable to deal with this situation together, the couple splits up, and Silice leaves with her daughter. Verloc is devastated. Therefore, when his brother Conrad, an agent of Muy Tang Corporation, an extremely powerful bio-robotic company, suggests he accompanies him and his assistant —a monkey-robot called Churchill— to the planet Ona(ji), Verloc accepts. They must reestablish contact with a group of scientists, sent there five years ago by Muy Tang Corporation and left on their own ever since to experiment with Aâma, a kind of artificial intelligence capable of reproducing itself. Upon arriving, they discover a community that has gone off the rails. A few months ago, Professor Woland left the colony to initiate the experiment by herself. At the same time, a strange little girl, the very image of Lilja, arrived. Searching for Aâma, the group crosses an increasingly weird landscape where life has begun to proliferate at an alarming rate. Hostile creatures, a cross between robots and living beings, appear and, little by little, decimate the team. Verloc realizes that Professor Woland has been manipulating them from the very beginning: Lilja’s double served as a lure to Verloc, who WHY THIS BOOK? would become a vehicle to Aâma, thus contaminating his own Superb graphics that blend daughter, who possesses unique genetic characteristics, upon his the spectacular and the return to Radiant. His resistance in vain, Verloc transmits the substance intimate. The quest of a to Lilja, thus fulfilling Professor Woland’s plan as humanity takes a man incapable of liberating giant step by irreversibly integrating technology through the young girl. himself from his origins and his past. A crucial question: could the human being of the present be merely a transition towards so- mething else?

Gallimard jeunesse Frédérique Massart Film and theatre rights director Gallimard Group [email protected] 26 +33 1 49 54 42 98 SETTING Was it an accident, or was it... murder? What if the 1980s - Paris, Venice, Cornell death of Roland Barthes —that cult figure of the French CHARACTERS intelligentsia— was linked to a mysterious manuscript Jacques Bayard — 50 Simon Herzog — 28 in his possession that day, giving whoever possessed A beautiful and mysterious nurse — 30 it incredible power? Thus begins a hair-raising A charming Italian student — 28 philosophical investigation, where The Name of the FILM AND FOREIGN RIGHTS GUIDE Currently being translated into 20 Rose meets Fight Club. languages, including English, German, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese & Chinese.

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DETECTIVE NOVEL — SUSPENSE DETECTIVE NOVEL Bestseller: 150 000 copies sold of the The Seventh Function current edition Excellent press pack Winner of the 2015 Prix Interallié of Language Laurent Binet’s previous novel, HHhH, is currently being adapted into an LA SEPTIÈME FONCTION DU English-language film (budget: €25 LANGAGE million). LAURENT BINET

On February 25th 1980, Roland Barthes was run over by a van after having lunch with François Mitterrand. He died from his injuries a month later. The official version concluded it was an accident… but what if it was murder? That day, Barthes had a document entitled The Seventh Function of Language with him. A function so powerful, it offers the person who masters it the power to convince anyone to do anything, to coerce any individual or group through speech. In other words, absolute power through language. Police chief Jacques Bayard, a crabby, old reactionary and no fan of structuralism, begrudgingly hires Simon Herzog —a young lefty semiologist, who turns out to be a new kind of Sherlock Holmes— to be his sidekick throughout the investigation. They have absolutely nothing in common. The President of the Republic assigns this improbable duo the task of finding the precious document. The investigation sends them deep into a thriving Paris, from university benches to backrooms in cut-throat neighbourhoods, where they cross paths with politicians, philosophers, the Bulgarian mafia, and a few beautiful strangers. This two-man team quickly discovers the existence of the Logos Club, a powerful secret society where WHY THIS BOOK? members pitilessly wage verbal war on one another. This takes them to Bologna, to an American campus, and then to Venice, where the This is an incredible police final duel will take place to determine the head of the Logos Club... investigation led by a crack They deduce that the winner must be the person who stole the duo, with its great freedom Seventh Function. of tone, as well as its very playful and accessible ap- proach to a science that is nothing more than the ana- lysis of signs.

Grasset Heidi Warneke Rights Director [email protected] 27 +33 1 42 39 22 12 SETTING The Spindle stalks his victims from birth, promising Canada their parents that their daughters will be murdered on CHARACTERS their sixteenth birthday. Ariane chooses to run away Chased heroine: Ariane

THRILLER — Killer: The Spindle rather than wait for death. Inspector: Jude Beauvoir

FILM AND FOREIGN RIGHTS GUIDE To this date, 2 Seas Agency has sold Chasing Sleeping the rights in 3 languages

FAIRY TALE ADAPTATION TALE FAIRY - Transfer of rights for the German edition with Ravensburger. Publication date: February 1st, 2016 Beauty - Transfer of rights for the Korean AU BOIS DORMANT edition with Nike Books. Expected publication date: first semester 2016. CHRISTINE FÉRET-FLEURY - Transfer of rights for the Thai edition with Pran. Expected publication date: April-May 2016. The Prudents have always been overprotective of their only daughter, Other international deals are currently Ariane, as if she was under threat. Ariane is tired of moving houses under negociation/confirmation. and traveling, but she is now used to feeling lonely and secluded. One day at school, Ariane takes pictures of a man in the park. When she prints them out at home, her father notices worryingly that the man is staring back at her. During the night, Ariane hears her parents arguing about an obsessive killer, the Spindle, who kills young girls and their families on their sixteenth birthday. He always leaves his victims naked on their bed, with a red rose between their fingers, lying as if asleep. Ariane decides to run away from home to protect her parents. When Ariane is attacked by a stranger on the street, Clara Caballos saves her and takes her to three of her friends who welcome her into their home. Ariane trusts them and tells them the threat that is looming over her. Inspector Jude Beauvoir has tried to find the Spindle for years. The first victim was actually Jude’s older sister. Ariane’s parents send him the pictures she took of the stranger in the park. The photos are compared with portraits of local criminals. They seem to match those of Patrice Cabana, a small delinquent. However the man has been declared dead years ago… Ariane reads every article she can find in the library about the Spindle’s crimes. There, a man, “the Rat”, sees the pictures of the victims she just printed. He tells Ariane he knows them all: as a midwife he gave birth to all these girls. Ariane calls her parents to ask where she was born. It turns out to be the clinic where the stranger used to work. Ariane’s parents report their conversation to the police. Jude and his colleague investigate the clinic. They study the victims’ files and realize they were all born there, through artificial insemination from an unknown donor. What if the Spindle was the donor? Ariane receives a parcel full of photos of her: the Spindle has found her WHY THIS BOOK? again. Her new friends take Ariane on holiday to keep her safe until her birthday is over. This revisited fairy tale has Ariane is too scared to trust the police, she runs away in a car she a timeless and universal re- found abandoned on the side of a road… Jude is laid-off the case. sonance with all audiences Before leaving, he spots a photo in a victim’s file of a woman who looks just like Cabana… It is sent to all the victims’ parents, who give alike. Young adult novel away the identity of the person on the photo. It’s Marisa Cabana, adaptations are widely po- Patrice’s twin sister. She used to baby-sit four of the six victims. pular and this fast-paced Patrice had died before the murders even started, and he was the thriller is full of growing unknown sperm donor. His sister started working in the same clinic tension and suspense, with after his death and cleared his name from the files. strong, relatable charac- Meanwhile, “The Rat”, who used to be Marisa’s colleague, gets in touch with Jude. He knows where Marisa lives. Jude finds the house, ters. each room is filled with the young girls’ bodies. Jude is knocked unconscious, then wakes up next to Ariane. Both are bound to a bed. A man appears. Jude recognizes him: Jacques Mestre, a reknown doctor who was interrogated during the investigation. Everything makes sense: Jacques Mestre is the Spindle. Marisa is his wife, and he committed all the murders to avenge her: her brother’s death had left Marisa heartbroken. She’s the one who gained the victims’ trust, working as their baby-sitter. Mestre is about to kill Ariane with a poisoned needle when, just in time, somebody shoots him in the head. Clara Caballos, standing Hachette Romans/Black Moon behind the door with a gun, had followed the police to save Ariane. Cécile Térouanne The police finds Marisa hidden in a room. She is arrested while Ariane Director cries in Clara’s arms. Jude lays unconscious on a bed. An emotional [email protected] 28 Ariane gives him a kiss on the lips. + 33 6 78 44 28 56 SETTING 2020: Women change their breasts to follow fashion International and surgeons have become rock stars, acclaimed by CHARACTERS COMEDY crowds of fans. One day, Stéphane, a fashion Stéphane photographer fed up with the tyranny of beauty, begins Sandra to change course. His project? To rehabilitate imperfections. But in an increasingly conformist world, will he manage to find... a little cellulite? In Praise of Cellulite and Other Misfortunes ÉLOGE DE LA CELLULITE ET AUTRES DISGRÂCES DOMINIQUE DYENS

When he started out as a fashion photographer, Stéphane didn’t believe in the future of his work. Women’s magazines were collapsing, victims of the all-too-great divide between the surgically altered models populating their pages and the bodies of the women reading them. However, a few years later, the expected collapse has not taken place, quite the contrary! To compensate for the difference between fantasy and reality, society has quite simply embarked upon... mass plastic surgery! In ten years of work, Stéphane has watched this upheaval, which has made him one of the most famous fashion photographers in the business. Not only has he photographed the most beautiful bodies, he has also laid hands on them! Yet today, despite this dream career, Stéphane is depressed. He himself doesn’t know why. He has reached the heights of glory, surrounded by women and money, what could possibly be missing from his life? Perhaps he doesn’t have enough work? Maybe he’s gay? In any case, this is what his boss Sandra, herself remodeled from head to toe, suggests. Even her vocal cords have been modified, she’s a real example for young girls... To give him a boost, Sandra gives Stéphane a special project: a book of testimonials about the explosion of surgery. Stéphane finds himself interviewing the legends of the field! WHY THIS BOOK? First up is a real rock star surgeon, who is regularly cheered on by delirious young girls. His specialty? Facial… duplication! Now A corrosive satire. everyone can look like their idol, thanks to the famous “Honey, I’ve won my idol’s face” TV show... “When I carve the body of a woman,” he tells Stéphane, “I always sand her soul.” His second meeting is with a girl of just 18, Raspberry, who is already on her third pair of breasts. Just like first names, breasts are now changed to follow fashion! Obviously, none of these meetings help Stéphane feel any better. He is increasingly depressed, finds a beautiful creature in a supermarket for singles, but cannot even satisfy her. He finally gives up and resigns. He is sick of all this perfection, these bodies without fat, without hair, without folds, without orange peel skin and without… cellulite! His new project? To find imperfect women, photograph them and turn them into a Celebration of Cellulite! In this perfect world, women who insist on being natural often end up in jail... for obesity. Yet Stéphane perseveres. On the internet, he finally ends up meeting people who share his ideas. He finds small groups fighting for chocolate sandwiches, impotence at 60, non-gymnastics, and so on. Editions Héloïse d’Ormesson Revolution is on its way! But Stéphane will not see it through to the Nathalie Carpentier end. He wakes up after a bout of food poisoning. It was all just a Directrice générale nightmare. He is delighted to rediscover his girlfriend’s orange-peel C.A.L. skin. The reason for his anxiety? His mother has decided to remarry... [email protected] 29 a man 20 years her junior! + 33 6 25 89 25 06 SETTING What if operation Iraqi Freedom were a serial killer’s The city of Baghdad playground? One woman and a soldier for hire will risk CHARACTERS everything on the battlefield to bring this monster to Charlene – 30 – Female justice. Jackson – 40 – Male FILM AND FOREIGN RIGHTS GUIDE Translated into English

PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL AVAILABLE One shot, available THRILLER — INVESTIGATION Baghdad Inc. BAGDAD INC. DESBERG / LEGRAIN

Baghdad, 2004. Charlene is what they call a self-made woman. Being abandoned by her father and the violent deaths of her mother and, later, her fiancé have left her emotionally detached from the world around her. And yet, Charlene has overcome these traumas and risen through the ranks to become a successful and fearless army investigator. She’ll need all the grit and intensity she can muster when the Army summons her to Iraq on a top-secret investigation: against the backdrop of a simmering Iraq, a serial killer is on the loose. And he has a particular taste for gory trophies… Jackson, a mysterious and alluring mercenary with his own broken past and scores to settle, accompanies her. Through interviews, mercenary files, gruesome clues and sheer force of will, Charlene will track the killer through a series of old cases from Bosnia and South Africa to present-day battlefields in Iraq. Together, they will risk everything and dive head-first into the dark underbelly of a liberated Iraq. For in this world ruled by ambitious businessmen and professional mercenaries, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Ultimately, this exhilarating ride reveals humanity’s dark side, and its age-old love affair with war. Charlene’s initiation into this world exposes the untold story of the booming business of war. In 2005, estimates placed the number of private mercenaries at 100,000 (as opposed to 140,000 soldiers for the entire U.S. army). Two years later, the total “private security force” WHY THIS BOOK? on the ground would grow to more than 160,000. In a grossly skewed Follow a fierce female hierarchy, these private soldiers could earn $1,000 per day, compared investigator into the dark to $225 for a U.S. soldier, or a mere $15 for an Iraqi security guard. underworld of the business Charlene’s investigation goes a long way in bringing to light the sordid of war and discover the le- relationship between business and politics, where the stakes thal connections between outweigh the price of human lives. mercenaries, businessmen and politicians. What is left when the stakes of war outweigh the price of hu- man lives?

Lombard Laurent Duvault Director of audiovisual development 30 [email protected] SETTING Merlin is a successful author of the cartoon series The French country side entitled Wild Oregon and inspired by his best friend CHARACTERS

DRAMEDY Laurent, the hero of the cartoon. When Laurent dies Merlin – 50s – Male Prune – 50s – Female suddenly, Merlin loses his Muse. How will Merlin Laurent – Male continue to write his cartoon after Laurent’s death? FIND OUT MORE Two of Marie-Sabine Roger’s books (La Tête en friche, Bon rétablissement) have already been adapted to the screen —their narrative structure is almost cinematographic. The film In the Starlit director, Jean Becker asked Marie- Sabine Roger, on two occasions, to co-author the scenario with Jean-Loup Meadows Dabadie. DANS LES PRAIRIES ÉTOILÉES MARIE-SABINE ROGER

Prune and Merlin, a recently formed couple in their fifties, have found their dream house deep in the French countryside… The perfect cocoon, give or take a few (important) alterations. Along with the house, they have their love and moments of glory: Merlin is a successful author of a crazy 13 volume cartoon series Wild Oregon, which is half-Western half-Fantasy. Everything is looking good until Merlin’s best friend, Laurent, dies suddenly, ending Merlin’s twenty-year friendship with this lone wolf, a Clint Eastwood lookalike who inspired the central character in the cartoon series under the name of Jim Oregon. How will Merlin cope with his best friend’s death when the man has also become his “hero” and made his name for him? It all gets more complicated when he learns that Laurent’s heirs will impose two constraints on the future of the series.

WHY THIS BOOK? The originality of the novel is that it takes us into the mind of the artist showing us how he gets inspired by those close to him to invent the characters. As we progress into the sto- ry, fiction and reality are mixed together creating some humoristic scenes. Enchanting characters po- pulate this novel, couples in their 50‘s all talented for a certain art de vivre à la française!

Le Rouergue Publishers Nathalie Alliel Audiovisual rights [email protected] – 31 + (33) 4 90 49 33 75 SETTING Lili, a French runaway young woman, comes to Alaska Kodiak Island, Alaska to work on a longliner as a rookie deckhand. Life at sea CHARACTERS is tough and dangerous, and Lili lives in the fear of Lili Colt Jude being arrested and expelled. She gains respect and Nikephoros affection from the other crew members, especially from Ian Jude. Does Lili have to choose between love and FILM AND FOREIGN RIGHTS GUIDE

DRAMA — ADVENTURE — DRAMA Translation rights sold in English freedom? (Jonathan Cape), Italian (Neri Pozza), German (btb Verlag), Spanish (Lumen Random House), Hebrew (Keter), Russian (Leisure Family Club), Dutch (Cossee), Chinese (Shanghai 99), The Great Mariner Polish offer LE GRAND MARIN CATHERINE POULAIN

Lili Colt is a runaway young woman. She has left everything behind in the South of France —her family, her home, her life— to come to Kodiak, Alaska, a mountainous and forested island inhabited by tough fishermen and dropouts. She hopes to work on a longliner for the fishing season and make enough money to reach Point Barrow up North, at the “Last Frontier”. Even though Lili has never fished, barely speaks English, does not know anyone in Alaska and does not have a green card, she persuades Ian, the captain of “The Rebel”, to hire her as a deckhand. The crew is composed of nine sailors, among which another greenhorn, Simon, a young student from California, and Jude, a sunburnt and taciturn experienced colossus who immediately impresses Lili. Life at sea is dangerous and work conditions are extreme. Sleeping on the deck, withstanding the freezing cold, the salt that eats the skin, facing fear, injuries, exhaustion. Roughing it, Lili pushes every limit but still lives in the fear of being arrested by the Immigration services and expelled. Little by little, she gains the crewmembers’ respect. When the boats come ashore, she stays with the men, in the bars, strip clubs and shabby motels where they use to hang around, waiting for the next voyage. She befriends the gorgeous Greek Nikephoros, whose body is covered with tattoos. Ian tries to seduce her, but she has already fallen in love with Jude. At the end of the season, several men leave the island. Jude tries to WHY THIS BOOK? dissuade Lili from going to Point Barrow. For a couple of weeks, they share an intense passion. He would like to marry her and give her a This book, based on the au- child. She still wants to be free. thor’s real-life experiences, is a vertiginous account of a wo- Jude has to go to Hawaii for work and Lili doesn’t want to leave Alaska man’s quest for her true self yet. She promises to join him later. There are very few women on the and struggle against the ele- island and almost all the men are infatuated with her (including ments. A deeply moving story Nikephoros). They promise Lili a boat, warm seas and never-ending about the torments of love, love. But she has interest in no one but Jude. and the beauty of friendship. Lili is upset when Nikephoros tragically dies. She even wonders whether she should join him. She wanders in the port and waits for the ferry: Hawaii or Point Barrow, she does not know where to go. She decides to walk to the cliffs, and there, in front of the sea, she becomes aware of the roaring of the world and realizes that it is what she was looking for.

Editions du Seuil/L’Olivier Fabien Meffre Audiovisual rights manager [email protected] 32 +33 1 41 48 82 73 SETTING A slaughter that took place in 1980 plunged a whole Massif Central Region (France) region into mourning. 30 years later, it still has region into mourning. 30 years later, it still has CHARACTERS consequences on the neighborhood and its inhabitants. Marc-Édouard Peiresoles FILM AND FOREIGN RIGHTS GUIDE Publication to come in Italy, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands A Breath, a Shade PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL ATMOSPHERIC THRILLER ATMOSPHERIC AVAILABLE Sample Translation (app. 100 pages UN SOUFFLE, UNE OMBRE E Reader’s report ACHRISTIAN Breath, CARAYON a Shade UN SOUFFLE, UNE OMBRE CHRISTIAN1980. A party to CARAYON celebrate the end of summer is in full swing in the Southern part of the Massif Central. Justine, Guillaume, Emmanuel and Florie, aged 10 to 14, are given the permission to sleep on a 1980.small islandA party in to the celebrate middle ofthe a endlake. of When summer the isparents in full swingdon’t seein the Southernthem coming part back of the in Massif the morning, Central. they Justine, swim Guillaume,there and discover Emmanuel a andhorror Florie, scene: aged three 10 childrento 14, are have given been the slaughteredpermission toand sleep the fourthon a smallone has island been in leftthe formiddle dead. of a lake. When the parents don’t see them2014. coming Whole familiesback in the—those morning, of the they victims swim and there of theand many discover a horrorsuspects—, scene: the three town children and even have the been region slaughtered never got andover the this fourth onetrauma. has Marc-Édouardbeen left for dead. is a history teacher in Toulouse, whose 2014.career Whole has come families to a —thosestandstill. of Histhe personalvictims and life ofis thenot manyany better suspects—,(his wife has the left town him andand Siobhan,even the oneregion of hisnever students, got over has this tried to trauma.commit suicideMarc-Édouard after the is end a history of their teacher affair). in A Toulouse,disastrous whose gala at the careeruniversity has drives come himto a to standstill. see a psychiatrist. His personal There, life is he not confesses any better that (hishis life wife has has been left himovershadowed and Siobhan, by onefear ofbecause his students, of the hasmurders tried thatto committook place suicide when after he wasthe end11 years of their old. affair). To get A riddisastrous of it, Marc-Édouard gala at the universitystarts over drives the investigation, him to see a on psychiatrist. the pretext There, of writing he confessesa thesis. that hisHe lifegets has in touchbeen overshadowedwith the different by actors fear because of the drama of the and murders with a that tookjournalist place also when obsessed he was 11with years the eventsold. To andget ridfinally of it, uncovers Marc-Édouard the startskillers. over The thefour investigation, teenagers were on theat the pretext same of school writing as a thesis.the victims Heand gets one inof touchthem withwas theobsessed different with actors Justine. of the Thanks drama to and some with a journalistquotes from also Justine’s obsessed favorite with the book events (Catcher and finallyin the Ryeuncovers by Salinger), the killers.published The in four the teenagerslocal newspaper, were at Marc-Édouard the same school discovers as the victimsthat andArnaud one and of them Loïc, was Guillaume’s obsessed brothers, with Justine. found Thanks out the to truth some as well, quoteskilled three from of Justine’s the culprits favorite and bookplan to(Catcher eliminate in the Ryelast one.by Salinger), He publisheddoes not give in the them local away, newspaper, and finally Marc-Édouard free of his fears, discovers he quits that his Arnaudjob and andgoes Loïc, to Ireland Guillaume’s to live brothers,with Siobhan. found out the truth as well, WHY THIS BOOK? killed three of the culprits and plan to eliminate the last one. He does not give them away, and finally free of his fears, he quits his There’s much more than sus- job and goes to Ireland to live with Siobhan. pense in this book: landscape is a central theme, together with the depth of the main character, the history of the victims and the impact of a tragedy on a community.

Fleuve Editions Julie Buffaud Film Rights Manager Univers Poche 33 [email protected] SETTING Human adventure, action, strange and fantastic fights Today – A very isolated Tibetan are at the core of this suspense novel exploring daily Monastery life in a Tibetan monastery, as well as the relationship CHARACTERS Dolma alias Elisabeth – Late teenager between China and Tibet, through numerous twists – Female and turns. Guésar – Late teenager monk – Male Mipam Gentgen – Old monk – Male

FIND OUT MORE Finalist for the Youth Imagination Book

SUSPENSE — ESPIONAGE Prize, France Selected for the Grand Prix de The Hidden l’Imaginaire 2016 ADVENTURE — PSYCHOLOGICAL Monastry LE MONASTÈRE CACHÉ PIERRE STOLZE

During a stormy night, a young girl is discovered unconscious next to the famous mountain Kailasha in Tibet by the monks of a very isolated monastery. She says her name is Dolma, speaks English, but seems to have lost all her memories. In the monastery, she becomes friends with Guesar, a young monk who is expected to become a very important lama. There, she will be initiated into traditional Buddhist practices, which she strangely seems to know very well… Will she be able to recover her memory and to understand the reason of her presence in Tibet? To accomplish this, she will have to make very strange experiments and to face very horrible people. This novel is a perfect introduction to the heart of Tibet and its bewitching mysteries. Moreover, the reader takes part in an amazing human and suspense-filled adventure!

WHY THIS BOOK? Many different ingredients: this human adventure is an initiation into Tibetan beliefs, a story of espionage, and of art objects trafficking. It intro- duces fantasy with the fights, and looks upon Chinese and Tibetan relationships through numerous twists and turns.

Le Verger des Hespérides Véronique Lagny-Delatour Director [email protected] 34 + 33 3 83 29 71 03 FRENCH EMBASSY SCELF

The French Mission for Culture and Higher The Société civile des Éditeurs de Langue Education in the United States promotes the française (SCELF) is a collecting society created best of French arts, literature, cinema, language, in 1960. It represents French book publishers and higher education in the US. Based in 10 and collects adaptation rights from other French cities across the country, the French Cultural collecting societies on behald of its members. It Services bring artists, authors, educational and also provides legal advice to its members. For university programs to cities nationwide. It also the past few years, SCELF has been organizing builds partnerships between French and events and partnerships in order to promote film American artists, institutions and universities of and TV adaptations and to develop the both countries. For the second time this year, the publishers’ role in the exploitation of authors’ Cultural Services in Los Angeles bring “Shoot rights. Shoot the Book! is the first international the Book!” to Hollywood after 3 previous editions event organized by SCELF. in Cannes, 2 in Toronto and 1 in Los Angeles. This industry workshop will provide professionals 15, rue de Buci with an opportunity to discover French literature 75006 Paris - France and its potential for film adaptation. + 33 1 53 34 97 10 [email protected] Consulate General of France www.scelf.fr 10390 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 410 Los Angeles, CA 90025 Nathalie Piaskowski www.frenchculture.org Directrice générale [email protected] Séverine Madinier + 33 1 53 34 97 10 Office for Cultural Affairs and the Creative Industries Director & Head of Film and TV [email protected] +1 (310) 235-3280 CFC

The Centre Français d’exploitation du droit de Copie (CFC) is a collecting and distributing society for literary and artistic rights. It deals collectively with paper copyrights and digital rights for books and the press on behalf of authors and editors.

20, rue des Grands-Augustins 75006 Paris - France + 33 1 44 07 47 70 INSTITUT FRANÇAIS www.cfcopies.com

The Institut français, under the direction of the Philippe Masseron Directeur général Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International [email protected] Development, organizes actions outside France. + 33 1 44 07 47 82 An active player in cultural diplomacy, the Institut français represents France’s image in a unique way, in France and throughout 96 countries. It promotes authors, filmmakers, architects, artists, ideas, creations and industries that contribute to an innovative and dynamic image of French SOFIA creativity. It also promotes the dialogue between cultures SOFIA (Société Française des Intérêts des Auteurs de and organizes events for professional l’écrit) manages remuneration arising from loans in communities in all its fields of operation, thus libraries and the digital rights in respect of 20th century developing the French cultural network abroad. out-of-print books. Sofia is also responsible for a part of remuneration for 8-14, rue du Capitaine Scott private copying and assigns some of the sums collected 75015 Paris - France to promote creativity, support greater access to books + 33 1 53 69 83 00 and provide training activities. It is from this perspective www.institutfrancais.com that it supports Shoot the book ! LA. Didier Dutour Responsable livre et traduction 199 bis, boulevard Saint-Germain [email protected] 75007 Paris + 33 1 53 69 83 00 + 33 810 642 642 www.la-sofia.org

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