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Published Jun 2020
336 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
The secret daughter of a French politician and a famous actress drops the startling revelation that will shatter her family in this beguiling debut novel of intrigue and betrayal.
"There were so many of us, children of these double families who dreamed of the other side."
Margot Louve is a secret: the child of a longstanding affair between an influential French politician with presidential ambitions and a prominent stage actress. This hidden family exists in stolen moments in a small Parisian apartment on the Left Bank.
It is a house of cards that Margot—fueled by a longing to be seen and heard—decides to tumble. The summer of her seventeenth birthday, she meets the man who will set her plan in motion: a well-regarded journalist whose trust seems surprisingly easy to gain. But as Margot is drawn into an adult world she struggles to comprehend, she learns how one impulsive decision can threaten a family's love with ruin, shattering the lives of those around her in ways she could never have imagined.
Exposing the seams between private lives and public faces, The Margot Affair is a novel of deceit, desire, and transgression—and the exhilarating knife-edge upon which the danger of telling the truth outweighs the cost of keeping secrets.
"The eclectic cast and rich Parisian backdrop deepen this dramatic exploration of family and the trials of early adulthood. Francophiles and anyone who appreciates an emotionally rewarding story will enjoy Lemoine's lush, well-crafted tale." - Publishers Weekly
"Though the novel is largely concerned with Margot's interior emotional state, it moves at a satisfyingly quick pace, and Lemoine's prose is visually and emotionally precise...An engrossing, impressive debut novel that skillfully charts a young Frenchwoman's coming-of-age." - Kirkus Reviews
"A deeply immersive novel about the ways in which your family may fail you...Written in graceful prose carrying clairvoyant insights, its wisdom stayed with me." - Ling Ma, author of Severance
"A stunning debut, simmering with tension and sensuality. This jewel of a novel examines the in-between spaces in life....A mesmerizing story by an important new voice." - Crystal Hana Kim, author of If You Leave Me
"Astonishing...Sanaë Lemoine is fearless and almost unbearably tender in her exploration of all the ways we both exalt and wound one another." - Stacey D'Erasmo, author of Wonderland
"An extraordinary, gorgeous novel...With exquisite precision and insight, The Margot Affair builds to an unexpected heat." - Idra Novey, author of Those Who Knew
"Poised, coolly beguiling, and deeply compelling, Lemoine's debut casts a powerful spell." - Hermione Hoby, author of Neon in Daylight
This information about The Margot Affair 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.
Sanaë Lemoine was born in Paris to a Japanese mother and French father, and raised in France and Australia. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and her MFA at Columbia University. She now lives in New York.
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