IRIS ET OCTAVE / IRIS AND OCTAVE – HENDSCHEL

Information

Author:

Alice Hendschel

Date:

Belfond
August 2024

Author:

Additional Info

IRIS AND OCTAVE

Rights Holder: Belfond
Original Language: French

In this debut novel from 27-year-old Alice Hendschel, Iris and Octave decide to give their love one last chance after a long separation.

Iris and Octave, in their twenties, decide to get back together after a long separation. Since this chance they are giving each other has to be the last, they choose to escape to a small village in the Belgian Ardennes to seal their mutual promises.

For how long? They don’t know. Lost between fields and forests, between the river and cliffs, Iris and Octave wander, shop for groceries, seek inspiration, miss the bus, talk and drink excessively until they decide to fall in love again, read, make love, and cry abundantly.

But no escapade, no matter how pastoral, prevents the outside world from creeping in. Iris and Octave will learn this the hard way. Gradually, the lovers who believed themselves to be cosmic will discover that no land is spared from the past and that toying with their destiny can lead them to the brink of madness.

Alice Hendschel was born in Brussels in 1996. A graduate of the EHESS, she is interested in the modalities of representing love and sexuality in popular music. This debut novel is an opportunity to recount the landscapes of her life—the violence of love, but also the stormy winds that sometimes overwhelm the flowers of the Ardennes. Iris and Octave is her first novel.

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