Lisette

(Paperback)

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Description

In the early 1990s Catherine Rey struck up a friendship with fellow lonely soul, Lisette Nigot. Wreathed in mythology from her colourful past and possessed of a humorous, humane view of the world, she became Rey's closest confidant and mentor through uncertainty. But struggling with discomfort in her old age, Lisette grew intent on ending her life.

This book is the fulfilment of Rey's promise to Lisette: to honour their bond of rare honesty and empathy, and reckon with losing it. Refusing truisms we often rely on in grief, Rey weighs what keeps us attached to others and to ourselves, as well as the controversy of euthanasia. We are plunged into eternal questions: how does death influence life What degree of autonomy is acceptable in society What matters to us, as we grow older

Part tribute to an incandescent woman, part contemplation of what comes to light or stays opaque with the passing of time, Lisette is a riveting record of the details that prove poignant and precious to us.

'What a wonderful work this is. Not a word wasted, and so much space for pain and ambiguity and speculation to do its work. In Rey's hands, an exquisitely intimate choice becomes universal, a deep meditation on life and its endings.' Hugh Riminton, journalist, author of Minefields: A life in the news game

Author Bio

Catherine Rey was born in Saintes, studied and taught French Literature in Bordeaux before leaving France for Australia in 1997.

Her debut novel L'ami intime was published in 1994 by the iconic French publisher Le Temps Qu'il Fait. It received a laudatory review in Le Monde. Rey followed this with seven more works published in France, two of which have been translated into English and garnered high praise.

One of these is The Spruiker's Tale, a novel short-listed for the prestigious Renaudot and Femina Prizes in France (Ce que racontait Jones) and translated by Andrew Reimer. Also published by Giramondo came the fictionalised autobiography Stepping Out (translated from Une femme en marche by Julie Rose), where the author anatomises her consuming struggle to find her writing voice through a difficult relationship with her mother.

In 2018 Rey published with Gazebo Books The Lovers, her first English language novel. Miles Franklin Award winner Michelle de Kretser described The Lovers as 'impeccably crafted' and Catherine Ford in The Sydney Morning Herald/The Age as 'an impressive feat of complex and nuanced story-telling'.