Allegra
Dans ce roman sous haute tension, Philippe Rahmy brosse le portrait d'un homme consumé à la fois par le désir et le déni.
- Vermillon
- Paru le 07/01/2016
- Genre : Littérature française
- 192 pages - 140 x 205 mm
- EAN : 9782710378563
- ISBN : 9782710378563
Foreign Rights
Allegra
Rights sold
Italy (Ortica)
Mexico (Praxis)
Awards
Prix Rambert 2016
Prix Suisse de Littérature 2016
Presentation
Ever since the birth of their daughter, Allegra, Abel – a Frenchman of Algerian decent who went to London to find his fortune – and Lizzie, his young English companion, have been on high alert. Several weeks before the opening of the Olympic Games, the joyous enthusiasm around London recalls the disorder of their existence: due to sleepless nights with their baby, they live like sleepwalkers, arguing with each other, their relationship tearing itself apart.
The day that a dispute with Lizzie turns to a serious confrontation, Abel decides to change his life’s course. But fate has other plans for him. Firouz, his protector, mentor and friend, tells him that he was laid off from his job at a bank. Lizzie kicks him out of their apartment. Abel goes off the rails and ends up at the Salaam Hotel. There, he spends his time with others who are down and out – migrants and refugees – who are hoping, like he is, for a better future. Most of all, Abel wants to fix things with Lizzie, who he is still in love with, and be reunited with his daughter. That’s when Firouz presents him with a bribe that takes him to the edge of sanity.
Allegra is the extraordinary story of an ordinary man cornered by his circumstances, who is tempted by the worst of life and seeks redemption.
Born in Geneva in 1965, Philippe Rahmy, who trained as an Egyptologist, had two books of poetry published by Cheyne Éditeur: Mouvement par la fin, with an afterword by Jacques Dupin (2005), and Demeure le corps (2007). In 2013, La Table Ronde published a personal account, Béton armé that won several literary prizes and was elected LIRE magazine’s travel book of the year. His first novel, Allegra, was published by la Table Ronde in 2016, followed by Monarques (2017) and Pardon pour l'Amérique (2018). Philippe Rahmy died in Lausanne on October 1, 2017.
"Throughout the book, one can sense that a tragedy is on its way, but Philippe Rahmy keeps you in suspense until the last page. A brilliantly dark novel!” France Inter
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