Daughters Beyond Command

(Paperback)

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'[A] gem of a novel . . . Heartstopping and heartbreaking.' - The Independent

'Full of wonder.' - The New York Times

Three sisters are born into a modest Catholic family in Aix-en-Provence. Sabine, the eldest, dreams of an artist's life in Paris; Helene, the youngest, grew up between her uncle and her aunt, bourgeois from Neuilly-sur-Seine, and her parents, simple people; Mariette, the youngest, learns the secrets and silences of a dazzling and crazy world.

In 1970, French society is moving; women have emancipated themselves whilst men have lost their bearings, and the three sisters, each in their own way, find ways to live a life of their own, a strong life, far from the morality, education and the religion of their childhood.

This family chronicle, which takes us from after May 68 to the momentous election night of May 10, 1981, is as much a tender and tragic stroll through this century as it is the chronicle of an era, where consciousnesses are awakening to the upheaval of the world and heralding the chaos to come.

Reviews

A beautiful story of familial love. * ActuaLitt *
A book filled with tenderness." * La Croix *
[A] gem of a novel Heartstopping and heartbreaking. * The Independent on Beside the Sea *
The brilliance of Vronique's writing is that you become intimately acquainted with the speaker's thoughts it unlocks you from the inside. * Lisa Dwan (Actress, star of Bloodlands and Top Boy) *
Full of wonder. * The New York Times on Bakhita *

Author Bio

Vronique Olmi was born in 1962 in Nice and now lives in Paris. She is an acclaimed French dramatist and her twelve plays have won numerous awards. Olmi won the Prix Alain-Fournier emerging artist award for her 2001 novella Bord de Mer. It has since been translated into all major European languages.

Alison Anderson spent many years in California; she now lives in a Swiss village and works as a literary translator. Her translations include The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, and works by Nobel laureate J. M. G. Le Clzio. She has also written two previous novels and is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Literary Translation Fellowship.