Books published by Gallic Books

Renee is the concierge of a grand Parisian apartment building, home to members of the great and the good. Over the years she has maintained her carefully constructed persona as someone reliable but totally uncultivated, in keeping, she feels, with society's expectations of what a concierge should be. But beneath this facade lies the real Renee: passionate about culture and the arts, and more knowledgeable in many ways than her employers with their outwardly successful but emotionally void lives. Down in her lodge, apart from weekly visits by her one friend Manuela, Renee lives resigned to her lonely lot with only her cat for company. Meanwhile, several floors up, twelve-year-old Paloma Josse is determined to avoid the pampered and vacuous future laid out for her, and decides to end her life on her thirteenth birthday. But unknown to them both, the sudden death of one of their privileged neighbours will dramatically alter their lives forever.

A fresh, provocative history that renews our understanding of France in the world through short, incisive essays ranging from prehistoric frescoes to Coco Chanel to the terrorist attacks of 2015. 'A major work, exhaustive, controversial and fresh' The GuardianBringing together an impressive group of established and up-and-coming historians, this bestselling history conceives of France not as a fixed, rooted entity, but instead as a place and an idea in flux, moving beyond all borders and frontiers, shaped by exchanges and mixtures. Presented in chronological order from 34,000 BC to 2015, each chapter covers a significant year from its own particular angle – the marriage of a Viking leader to a Carolingian princess proposed by Charles the Fat in 882, the Persian embassy's reception at the court of Louis XIV in 1715, the Chilean coup d'état against President Salvador Allende in 1973 that mobilised a generation of French left-wing activists. France in the World combines the intellectual rigour of an academic work with the liveliness and readability of popular history. With a brand-new preface aimed at an international audience, this English-language edition will inspire Francophiles and scholars alike.

This graphic adaptation reveals the fundamental architecture of Proust's work while displaying a remarkable fidelity to his language as well as the novel's themes of time, art, and the elusiveness of memory.

Bookseller Laurent Letellier comes across an abandoned handbag on a Parisian street and feels impelled to return it to its owner. The bag contains no money, phone or contact information. But a small red notebook with handwritten thoughts and jottings reveals a person that Laurent would very much like to meet. Without even a name to go on, and only a few of her possessions to help him, how is he to find one woman in a city of millions?

Dressed by Chanel and Yves St Laurent, painted by Salvador Dali and Picasso and mingling with Colette and Proust, Helena Rubinstein not only enjoyed unbelievable success, but was also instrumental in empowering and liberating women. This is her story.

Can we learn how to be happy? Hector is a successful young psychiatrist. He's very good at treating patients in real need of his help. But many people he sees have no health problems: they're just deeply dissatisfied with their lives. Hector can't do much for them, and it's beginning to depress him. So when a patient tells him he looks in need of a holiday, Hector decides to set off round the world to find out what makes people everywhere happy (and sad), and whether there is such a thing as the secret of true happiness...

'Bold, sinister and debate-provoking Kirsty Logan, author ofThings We Say in the DarkGabriela has met a monster. He stole her sister.When social unrest forces their family from their home in Cuba to Key West, Florida, sisters Gabriela and Luciana are suddenly immigrants. While the elder is quiet and cautious, the younger a fiery tearaway, in this unfamiliar place they are vulnerable and uncertain, and turn to one another.When Luciana suddenly falls ill, she is taken to a doctor, Wilhelm von Tore, whose immediate obsession with her drives a wedge between the family. Gabriela can only watch as her desperate parents grant Wilhelm unlimited access to their younger daughter, hoping for a cure. He fills their home with the stench of flowers and treats Luci as a plaything.When illness finally claims Luciana, Gabriela thinks they are free of this controlling man. But Wilhelm knows Luci is his destiny, and for him death is only the beginning.Wilhelm creates a narrative of great love and all-consuming passion, but through the cracks in his account there appears another. Gabriela will not let Wilhelms version of events go unchallenged. She tells the story of her sister Luciana, fearless and full of life, and of the delusional man who robbed her from her grave.Based on a chilling true story Heather Parrys debut tale is terrifyingly brilliant. She is one of the most interesting and talented British writers to emerge in recent memory.Orpheus Builds a Girlis a sinister dark flower of a book, both intoxicating and beautiful (Camilla Grudova)

An elderly man gives virtuoso piano performances in airports and train stations. To the incredulity of the passers-by, he refuses their offers to play in concert halls, or at prestigious gatherings. He is waiting for someone, he tells them.Joseph was just sixteen when he was sent to a religious boarding school in the Pyrenees: les Confins, a dumping ground for waifs, strays, and other abandoned souls. His days were filled with routine and drudgery, and he thought longingly of the solace he found through music in his former life.Joe dreams constantly of escape, but it seems impossible. That is, until a chance encounter with the orphanages benefactor leads him to Rose, and a plan begins to formHumorous even in its darkest moments, Devils and Saints tells a daring tale of camaraderie, love, and good triumphing over evil.

A Parisian writer lacking inspiration finds the heroine of his next novel outside his apartment. Telling the story of octogenarian Madeleine and her family, he finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into their lives - with unexpected consequences.

A young gentleman in Victorian London is drawn into a dark and dangerous world when he falls for a beautiful flower seller. What follows is a ghost story, a Gothic mystery and an uncanny love story from Polari Prize-shortlisted author Charles Lambert.

For the first time, he found himself alone at the farm, with no sound whatever from the livestock, nor from anyone else, not the least sign of life. And yet, within these walls, life had always won through.An outstanding, big, compassionate novel' Le Figaro1999. As France prepares to see in a new millennium, the country is battered by apocalyptic storms. But holed up on the farm where he and his three sisters grew up, Alexandre seems less afraid of the weather than of the police turning up. Alone in the darkness, he reflects on the end of a rural way of life he once thought could never change. And his thoughts return to the baking hot summer of 1976, when he met Constanze, an environmental activist who fell for the beauty of the countryside, and was prepared to use any means to save it.Serge Joncours impassioned, ambitious novel charts three decades of political, social, and environmental upheaval through the lives of a French farming family, as the delicate bond between the human and natural worlds threatens to snap.

A story of men and women setting out in search of new adventures, blown off course by illness, war and strokes of fate, this exuberant Franco-Chilean family saga spans a hundred years, two world wars, four generations and two continents in the space of ten short chapters.

Described as 'the Graham Greene of France' by The Independent, cult French noir writer Japrisot brings us a stylish thriller about revenge.A magician who lays out the truth on the page Le MondeThe bus never stops in Le Cap-des-Pins. Not in autumn, when the small Riviera resort is deserted. Except today, when a man with a red bag and a disconcerting stare steps out into the rain.His arrival will throw the life of young housewife Mellie Mau into disarray. After surviving a horrific attack, she has a dark secret to hide. But a stranger at a wedding, the enigmatic American Harry Dobbs, is determined to get the truth out of her, leading her into a game of cat and mouse with dangerous consequences A cool, twisty thriller from cult French noir writer Sbastien Japrisot.

From prize-winning author Serge Joncour, Lean on Me is an unconventional love story of two Parisian neighbours who find human connection among the isolation of the city.'A terrific love story' Livres HebdoWhen a flock of crows invades their apartment block, Parisian neighbours Aurore and Ludovic speak for the first time. Outwardly the fashion designer and debt collector share little in common, but they both lead isolated lives, she in a loveless marriage, he recently widowed and new to Paris. There is an immediate spark between them, and when Aurore is threatened by her business partner it is Ludovic she turns to for help. As events begin to spiral out of control, they begin a passionate affair...Winner of the prestigious Prix Interalli, Lean on Me is both a touching love story, an insightful look at the alienating effect of contemporary urban life.

A young woman wakes in a hospital room. What happened to her and why is a mystery. Is she victim or murderer?The young woman has been badly injured in a fire and has amnesia. But what happened to her? Is she Mi, Micky or Michle, or Do, Dominique? As she struggles to rebuild her identity, she starts to recall the crime that was committed and the house on the French Riviera. She remembers the rich heiress and the faithful friend but which is she?

Two tales of ill-advised marriage and its tragic consequences from a pioneering voice in French feminist literature.

A Parisian editor is drawn into a murder investigation when an unknown thriller author is shortlisted for a prize.

Death is Simon's business. And now the ageing vermin exterminator is preparing to die. But he still has one last job down on the coast and he needs a driver. Bernard is twenty-one. He can drive and he's never seen the sea. He can't pass up the chance to chauffeur for Simon, whatever his mother may say. As the unlikely pair set off on their journey, Bernard soon finds that Simon's definition of vermin is broader than he'd expected...Veering from the hilarious to the horrific, this offbeat story from master stylist, Pascal Garnier, is at heart an affecting study of human frailty.

How far would you go to follow your dreams? One man's obsession with a mythical dinosaur fossil takes him and his team to the very edge of the world, and of life itself.