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Prétextat Tach, Nobel laureate and one of the world's most renowned contemporary novelists, has only two months to live. He has been living in seclusion for years, refusing interviews and public appearances. But as news of his impending death leaks, intrepid journalists from all over the world flock to his home in the hope of getting an interview with the elusive Tach. Five journalists finally gain entry, but one after the other they discover that, far from being the literary luminary they imagined, Tach has become an obese misogynist, a petulant bigot, an embittered, disgusting madman. The world’s most famous author turns out to be the worst misanthrope imaginable.
Nina, the fifth journalist to interview with Tach, will call his bluff and beat him at his own game. As Nina’s questions fly and the author’s biting responses arrive, Tach will be led to a final, definitive confrontation with the demons of his past.
"Her startling revelations lead to a dramatic and unexpected ending that illuminates why the world, if not always its English-speaking inhabitants, loves Nothomb." - Publishers Weekly
"Multiple prize winner Nothomb's work will surely keep readers dazzled, mystified, and entertained. Written in fantastically spare but precise prose, it will stand for decades to come." - Library Journal
"It's good to know that after this bold but flawed debut, Nothomb has gone on to a fine career." - Kirkus
This information about Hygiene and Assassin 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.
Amélie Nothomb is one of Europe's most successful and controversial authors. She wrote Hygiene and the Assassin, her first published novel, when she was only twenty-five. Winner of the Fournier and René Fallet prizes, it is now published in English for the first time.
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