Bitter Almonds

Description

Edith can hardly believe it when she learns that Fadila, her 60-year-old housemaid, is completely illiterate. So she decides to become Fadila's French teacher. But teaching something as complex as reading and writing to an adult is rather more challenging than she thought. Yet during these lessons, the oh-so-Parisian Edith and Fadila, an immigrant from Morocco, begin to understand one another as never before and from this understanding blossoms a surprising friendship. Edith will enter contact with a way of life that is unforgiving at times, but joyful and dignified.

Laurence Cosse's A Novel Bookstore (Europa Editions, 2010), her ninth novel and an Indie Bound bestseller, was described by the San Francisco Chronicle as "marvelous and stimulating." She was a journalist and critic before devoting herself entirely to fiction. She lives in France. Alison Anderson's translations for Europa Editions include novels by Selim Nassib, Amelie Nothomb, and Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt. She is the translator of The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Europa, 2008) and The Life of the Elves (Europa, 2016) by Muriel Barbery.

Praise for Bitter Almonds "Wry, sly, and coyly seditious, Cosse's piquant satire is a subtly wrought manifesto against blatant consumer manipulation and media malfeasance." -Carol Haggas, Booklist "Cosse poignantly depicts characters." -Publishers Weekly Praise for Laurence Cosse's previous novels "[A Novel Bookstore] makes a good argument for literature as a sensual pleasure surpassing even sex and fine wine." -The Washington Post "Marvelous and stimulating." -San Francisco Chronicle "A deeply satisfying manifesto of book love and a sharp indictment of those who would use such love for their own evil purposes." -The Huffington Post "The psychological issues Cosse raises [in An Accident in August] are telling and true." -Kirkus Reviews