Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Apr 2015
96 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
El Pais called The Library of Unrequited Love "a thrilling soliloquy, an exciting breath of love." The librarian, a single, middle-aged woman, a sharply opinionated and thoughtful bookworm, whose ex-boyfriend left her for another woman, discovers one morning a patron who has been locked in over night.
Against her quiet nature, she starts to talk to him, what results is a soliloquy of frustrations, observations, and anguish, covering - with wit, pathos, and passion - history, literature, the Dewey Decimal System, love, and loneliness, as well as revealing her unrequited passion for a quiet student-researcher named Martin, whose studiousness, grace, and "beautiful neck" strikes her.
Divry's prose is seamless - never laborious - both funny and poignant. The book's compactness offers an immersive reading experience that touches universal emotional experiences from the perspective of a bookworm.
"It's funny, sad, and agreeably discursive ... There isn't a dull page or even a dull sentence ... In short, this is a very accomplished and delightful debut." - The Scotsman (UK)
"We're in Anita Brookner territory here ... Sophie Divry brilliantly captures the voice of a frustrated lady librarian past her prime." - The Evening Standard (UK)
"[An] eloquent debut ... Cultural knowledge and insights into human nature are perfectly woven in this original novel, which deserves all its critical praise." - The Independent (UK)
"Thoroughly entertaining, but also tinged with sadness, The Library of Unrequited Love is a slim, strongly written novel." - The National
This information about The Library of Unrequited Love was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Sophie Divry is a French writer and a journalist contributing to publications such as Le Monde Diplomatique. She lives in Lyon, France. She likes egglplants, olive oil, and her mother's homemade jam. She hates cars, is a feminist, and has a phobia about open doors. She likes swimming in the sea, lakes or rivers, but does not like buying a book without knowing what's inside it. The Library of Unrequited Love is her first novel.
Sian Reynolds is a past winner of the Scott Moncrieff Translation prize, and has translated many French writers, from Fernand Braudel to Fred Vargas.
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