The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Muriel Barbery, Alison Anderson

From Shelf: 10 books to read your way to France chosen by Liz Boulter

A funny and moving novel exalting the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us.

OVER 10 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE

SHORTLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD

'Resistance is futile' The Guardian

'Clever, informative and moving' The Observer

'Witty and touching' Gillian Anderson

Renee is the concierge of a grand Parisian apartment building. She maintains a carefully constructed persona as someone uncultivated but reliable, in keeping with what she feels a concierge should be. But beneath this facade lies the real Renee: passionate about culture and the arts, and more knowledgeable in many ways than her employers with their outwardly successful but emotionally void lives.

Down in her lodge, apart from weekly visits by her one friend Manuela, Renee lives with only her cat for company. Meanwhile, several floors up, twelve-year-old Paloma Josse is determined to avoid the pampered and vacuous future laid out for her, and decides to end her life on her thirteenth birthday. But unknown to them both, the sudden death of one of their privileged neighbours will dramatically alter their lives forever.

By turns moving and hilarious, this unusual novel was described by Le Figaro as 'the publishing phenomenon of the decade'.

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