New Book in French....similar to McCann saga?

AnnaEsse wrote:

dazedandconfused wrote:

AnnaEsse wrote:

dazedandconfused wrote:Sadly my French is poor to non existent, so I do hope that we get the chance to read a version in English at some point. I'm excited that it's been printed and sold and sad that I can't read it - yet.

It could become my next project!

Fingers crossed

Thank you for your confidence!

I do hope so AnnaEsse, this book sounds like a very interesting read and would be wonderful to have it translated as I very much doubt there will be an English version of it at Amazon
I don't understand why Amaral's book is still unavailable in book shops in the UK. The ban was over-turned in the Appeal Court by 3 judges and can be found in book shops in other countries. So why not here?

frencheuropean wrote:The critics are good, the young writter talentuous and Gallimard is the best known edition. A success most probably with the Mccann story seen with the same eyes than us, "nuttters" on the net. Here is the French summary. Could Anna translate please. Very interesting:


"Enfant étrange, taciturne et solitaire, Madec vit à Granville, avec ses parents et ses deux frères. Alors que la famille est en vacances en Toscane avec un couple d’amis, Madec manque de se noyer dans la piscine. Il est sauvé par un Anglais, Ron Murdoch, un repris de justice qui a purgé une longue peine en Angleterre pour pédophilie. Un soir, tandis que ses parents dînent au restaurant avec leurs amis, Madec se tue accidentellement dans la cuisine du bungalow. Revenant à l’improviste au milieu du repas, Laurence trouve son fils mort sur le carrelage. Sans réfléchir, elle emporte le corps et le fait disparaître, avant de rejoindre les autres au restaurant comme si de rien n’était. De retour au bungalow, la disparition déclenche une alerte générale. Battues, recherches, enquête policière, paparazzi : en quelques jours, les parents deviennent des vedettes. L’oncle de l’enfant orchestre une campagne de presse qui émeut le monde entier - jusqu’au pape Jean- Paul II. Diligentée par un inspecteur italien, l’enquête est suivie en haut lieu par la France. L’Anglais Murdoch est vite accusé d’avoir enlevé et tué Madec. Son passé plaide contre lui… S’inspirant d’un fait divers récent, Arthur Dreyfus décrit avec une ironie souvent cruelle cette famille figée dans son silence et ses lâchetés, et avec une poésie prenante la solitude de Madec. Progressivement s’installe un climat proche de la folie, dans lequel la mère, énigmatique et silencieuse, joue un rôle central. On comprendra peu à peu pourquoi elle cache la mort de son enfant…"

A strange, uncommunicative and lonely child, Madec lives in Granville with his parents and his two brothers.

While the family is on holiday in Tuscany with a couple of friends, Madec almost drowns in the swimming pool. He is saved by an Englishman, Ron Murdoch, an ex-convict who served a long sentence in England for paedophilia.

One evening, while his parents are dining at a restaurant with their friends, Madec dies accidentally in the kitchen of the bungalow.

Going back, for some reason, in the middle of the meal, Laurence finds her son dead on the tiled floor. Without a second thought, she takes the body and gets rid of it, before rejoining the others in the restaurant as though nothing has happened.

On their return to the bungalow, the disappearance sets off a general alert. Searches, more searches, police investigation, paparazzi: within a few days, the parents become celebrities.

The child’s uncle orchestrates a press campaign which gets world-wide attention – reaching Pope Jean-Paul II. Led by an Italian inspector, the investigation is followed closely in high places in France.

The Englishman Murdoch is soon accused of having abducted and killed Madec. His past works against him..Drawing inspiration from a recent news item, Arthur Dreyfus describes that family, set in their silence and spinelessness, with an often cruel irony and Madec’s solitude with entrancing poetry.

Progressively, a climate close to madness sets in, in which the mother, mysterious and silent, plays a central role. Little by little it will be understood why she hides her child’s body.

AnnaEsse wrote:

frencheuropean wrote:The critics are good, the young writter talentuous and Gallimard is the best known edition. A success most probably with the Mccann story seen with the same eyes than us, "nuttters" on the net. Here is the French summary. Could Anna translate please. Very interesting:


"Enfant étrange, taciturne et solitaire, Madec vit à Granville, avec ses parents et ses deux frères. Alors que la famille est en vacances en Toscane avec un couple d’amis, Madec manque de se noyer dans la piscine. Il est sauvé par un Anglais, Ron Murdoch, un repris de justice qui a purgé une longue peine en Angleterre pour pédophilie. Un soir, tandis que ses parents dînent au restaurant avec leurs amis, Madec se tue accidentellement dans la cuisine du bungalow. Revenant à l’improviste au milieu du repas, Laurence trouve son fils mort sur le carrelage. Sans réfléchir, elle emporte le corps et le fait disparaître, avant de rejoindre les autres au restaurant comme si de rien n’était. De retour au bungalow, la disparition déclenche une alerte générale. Battues, recherches, enquête policière, paparazzi : en quelques jours, les parents deviennent des vedettes. L’oncle de l’enfant orchestre une campagne de presse qui émeut le monde entier - jusqu’au pape Jean- Paul II. Diligentée par un inspecteur italien, l’enquête est suivie en haut lieu par la France. L’Anglais Murdoch est vite accusé d’avoir enlevé et tué Madec. Son passé plaide contre lui… S’inspirant d’un fait divers récent, Arthur Dreyfus décrit avec une ironie souvent cruelle cette famille figée dans son silence et ses lâchetés, et avec une poésie prenante la solitude de Madec. Progressivement s’installe un climat proche de la folie, dans lequel la mère, énigmatique et silencieuse, joue un rôle central. On comprendra peu à peu pourquoi elle cache la mort de son enfant…"

A strange, uncommunicative and lonely child, Madec lives in Granville with his parents and his two brothers.

While the family is on holiday in Tuscany with a couple of friends, Madec almost drowns in the swimming pool. He is saved by an Englishman, Ron Murdoch, an ex-convict who served a long sentence in England for paedophilia.

One evening, while his parents are dining at a restaurant with their friends, Madec dies accidentally in the kitchen of the bungalow.

Going back, for some reason, in the middle of the meal, Laurence finds her son dead on the tiled floor. Without a second thought, she takes the body and gets rid of it, before rejoining the others in the restaurant as though nothing has happened.

On their return to the bungalow, the disappearance sets off a general alert. Searches, more searches, police investigation, paparazzi: within a few days, the parents become celebrities.

The child’s uncle orchestrates a press campaign which gets world-wide attention – reaching Pope Jean-Paul II. Led by an Italian inspector, the investigation is followed closely in high places in France.

The Englishman Murdoch is soon accused of having abducted and killed Madec. His past works against him..Drawing inspiration from a recent news item, Arthur Dreyfus describes that family, set in their silence and spinelessness, with an often cruel irony and Madec’s solitude with entrancing poetry.

Progressively, a climate close to madness sets in, in which the mother, mysterious and silent, plays a central role. Little by little it will be understood why she hides her child’s body.

What happens next?? What happens next!!

I'm with NoStone. Desperate to know now.

AnnaEsse wrote:

frencheuropean wrote:The critics are good, the young writter talentuous and Gallimard is the best known edition. A success most probably with the Mccann story seen with the same eyes than us, "nuttters" on the net. Here is the French summary. Could Anna translate please. Very interesting:


"Enfant étrange, taciturne et solitaire, Madec vit à Granville, avec ses parents et ses deux frères. Alors que la famille est en vacances en Toscane avec un couple d’amis, Madec manque de se noyer dans la piscine. Il est sauvé par un Anglais, Ron Murdoch, un repris de justice qui a purgé une longue peine en Angleterre pour pédophilie. Un soir, tandis que ses parents dînent au restaurant avec leurs amis, Madec se tue accidentellement dans la cuisine du bungalow. Revenant à l’improviste au milieu du repas, Laurence trouve son fils mort sur le carrelage. Sans réfléchir, elle emporte le corps et le fait disparaître, avant de rejoindre les autres au restaurant comme si de rien n’était. De retour au bungalow, la disparition déclenche une alerte générale. Battues, recherches, enquête policière, paparazzi : en quelques jours, les parents deviennent des vedettes. L’oncle de l’enfant orchestre une campagne de presse qui émeut le monde entier - jusqu’au pape Jean- Paul II. Diligentée par un inspecteur italien, l’enquête est suivie en haut lieu par la France. L’Anglais Murdoch est vite accusé d’avoir enlevé et tué Madec. Son passé plaide contre lui… S’inspirant d’un fait divers récent, Arthur Dreyfus décrit avec une ironie souvent cruelle cette famille figée dans son silence et ses lâchetés, et avec une poésie prenante la solitude de Madec. Progressivement s’installe un climat proche de la folie, dans lequel la mère, énigmatique et silencieuse, joue un rôle central. On comprendra peu à peu pourquoi elle cache la mort de son enfant…"

A strange, uncommunicative and lonely child, Madec lives in Granville with his parents and his two brothers.

While the family is on holiday in Tuscany with a couple of friends, Madec almost drowns in the swimming pool. He is saved by an Englishman, Ron Murdoch, an ex-convict who served a long sentence in England for paedophilia.

One evening, while his parents are dining at a restaurant with their friends, Madec dies accidentally in the kitchen of the bungalow.

Going back, for some reason, in the middle of the meal, Laurence finds her son dead on the tiled floor. Without a second thought, she takes the body and gets rid of it, before rejoining the others in the restaurant as though nothing has happened.

On their return to the bungalow, the disappearance sets off a general alert. Searches, more searches, police investigation, paparazzi: within a few days, the parents become celebrities.

The child’s uncle orchestrates a press campaign which gets world-wide attention – reaching Pope Jean-Paul II. Led by an Italian inspector, the investigation is followed closely in high places in France.

The Englishman Murdoch is soon accused of having abducted and killed Madec. His past works against him..Drawing inspiration from a recent news item, Arthur Dreyfus describes that family, set in their silence and spinelessness, with an often cruel irony and Madec’s solitude with entrancing poetry.

Progressively, a climate close to madness sets in, in which the mother, mysterious and silent, plays a central role. Little by little it will be understood why she hides her child’s body.

Well this news has made my/our normal bog standard saturday, as in it's saturday so it must be steak and Monte Ducay a real sort of day and this 69 and 79 year old hubby are .
This sentence,
quote
Progressively, a climate close to madness sets in, in which the mother, mysterious and silent, plays a central role. Little by little it will be understood why she hides her child’s body.
Now this has brought celebrations down to earth as this makes me so very sad as to why she, the mother, had to hide her childs body.
Though I have my own ideas as to why.

Parents celebs ,paedophilia mentioned, Murdoch, Madech with two brothers, tiled floor, parents dining nearby, uncle helping out with press campagne, world wide publicity, Pope, and hiding a childs body!!!!!

I cant wait!!!!even though can't understand why this book is aloud to be published, there is more to this book as far as finger pointing goes then there ever was in Snr Amarals bewk


ENTER, CARTER RUCK

Lillyofthevalley wrote:Parents celebs ,paedophilia mentioned, Murdoch, Madech with two brothers, tiled floor, parents dining nearby, uncle helping out with press campagne, world wide publicity, Pope, and hiding a childs body!!!!!

I cant wait!!!!even though can't understand why this book is aloud to be published, there is more to this book as far as finger pointing goes then there ever was in Snr Amarals bewk


ENTER, CARTER RUCK

"..there is more to this book as far as finger pointing goes then there ever was in Snr Amarals bewk"

Too true! Let's get copies before it get whooshed!

On peut l'acheter ici

http://www.amazon.fr/Belle-Famille-Arthur-Dreyfus/dp/2070136531/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325957328&sr=1-1

I went to the FNAC tonight and browsed quickly through the book.

At the beginning the author insists on the fact that there are 1000 possible versions of a story and the imagination can explore all directions, so one can say eveything is wrong in his story, but the important for the story is to be plausible.
A very subtle introduction.

The author, apparently, knows well the McCann"s story. There are a lot of similarities in his book with it.
Parents both doctors, he cardiologist. Laurence physically the same than Kate and a lot of similarities with her strange attitude. the restaurant, the pope, the uncle, the convicted pedophile accused of kidnapping, the policeman dissmissed ( or quitting), the Fund, the paparazzis. I had not the time to read much but what it's striking is the detached ton of the writter, his irony about the situation and the subtleties of his analyzis;

In the book, the child ( whose name was picked by the father at a congress of cardiologists in Ireland!), is a secret child sometimes bullyed by his brothers . The night of the accident, frightened in the dark, he tries to find a key ring that the mother has hidden somewhere,climbs on a table and other objects to catch it at the top of a cupboard and falls, breaking his skull ( the description is very detached). The mother, coming back to bring something, from the restaurant, finds the child dead and without reaction, cleans the blood and carries the child in a ditch outside the house. She comes back to the restaurant to carry on the conversation as if nothing happened. When they come back, the father discovers the disparition of the child and when he is searching, she takes the body of the child in the cars'boot and throws it from the cliff in the sea. Apparently she doesn't fully realize that the child is dead. It's only when she finds on the floor the key ring that she brakes down, completly hysteric .It's not because the child is dead but because she realizes that if the child is dead, it's not by accident but it is her own fault because she had hidden the key ring the child wanted. Her next reflex is to protect the 2 other children and it's the reason why she doesn't say the truth to the police.

After that , I jumped to the end, so I just can say that she is not caught because the convicted pedophile commits suicide and a "friend" he spoke by telephone before that, says to the police that he has confessed to him the rape and the murder of the child incinerated after in a dustbin, so nobody will be able to find the corpse. And naturally "the friend" wants the reward for having found the culprit and given the solution!

In the same time, a yellow enveloppe, probably containing the truth, arrives on the desk of the inspector who was in charge of the case but left, placed next to the files "that can be reopen if a new element appears" (!) but the new inspector
in charge tears it and throws it in the dustbin.

And Laurence plans a new orientation for the money of the Fund, perhaps orphans in Niger, and a substantial sum for her husband to conduct researches in cardiologie.The husband who understands ,with a clue,that she did it but shuts up.

The epilogue is very strange because is a repetition of the fall of the child.As if he died a second time and liked it.

It's a very succint and incomplete summary because the book is thick and a lot of things happen during the story, I couldn't read by lack of time, so may be I didn't really understood exactly what I read. But , at the end, a reflexion of Laurence, the mother, is highlighted by the way of italics and is probably the key of the mystery: the mother is fed up with the hassle of the past months and she says:

"Et tout cela pour un enfant que je n'aimais pas." = And all that for a child I didn't love.


It's a very well written book, in a rather original style, and I will probably buy it and read it. It's absolutly worth the translation Anna.

Thankyou frencheuropean for a concise precis.

The night of the accident, frightened in the dark, he tries to find a key ring that the mother has hidden somewhere,climbs on a table and other objects to catch it at the top of a cupboard and falls, breaking his skull ( the description is very detached). The mother, coming back to bring something, from the restaurant, finds the child dead and without reaction, cleans the blood and carries the child in a ditch outside the house.

Cuddlecat on a high shelf....???? Faint cadaver odour in the flowerbed....???

KM statement: When asked, she said that before they left she took some precautions, namely placed the medicine inside a bag with a clasp in her room inside the wardrobe or the dresser. These were Calpol (paracetamol) and Nurofen (ibuprofen), for fevers and pains, both for adults and children (packages in liquid for the children). In this bag there was also a small pair of scissors. In the kitchen were cutting items that were used to prepare the meals and which were not put out of sight.

Merci Anne but I don't think it's possible to match every move in the book. The author apparently started from a global interpretation of the case( probably very close to our) but, as a writter, after ,used his imagination to build a scenario that suited him the best.

Just read on the maddie case files that the Author, Mr Dreyfus will be interviewed the 21. of January on the radio
France Culture, from 5 to 6.

frencheuropean wrote:Merci Anne but I don't think it's possible to match every move in the book. The author apparently started from a global interpretation of the case( probably very close to our) but, as a writter, after ,used his imagination to build a scenario that suited him the best.

Just read on the maddie case files that the Author, Mr Dreyfus will be interviewed the 21. of January on the radio
France Culture, from 5 to 6.

Thanks frencheuropean. If he is being interviewed on the radio, that could mean that the book has attracted significant attention. I must get it ordered before it disappears, although Carter-Ruck would find it difficult, methinks, to get something banned in France.

Wow

Thanks frencheuropean

Arthur Dreyfus obviously had very detailed knowledge of the case. References are made to Hewlett, Rebelo, Murdoch, the parents' professions, cardiology, the car boot, etc. I could go one for a while.

I don't think that the
Mccanns and Carter Ruck will sue the author for the book. That would make a fantastic publicity for "Belle famille", boost the sales, irritate the French who could start to poke their nose in their fairy tale and for, probably ,no result. A lot are very sceptical about them and their story.
the Mccanns are not that stupid, or?

frencheuropean wrote:I don't think that the
Mccanns and Carter Ruck will sue the author for the book. That would make a fantastic publicity for "Belle famille", boost the sales, irritate the French who could start to poke their nose in their fairy tale and for, probably ,no result. A lot are very sceptical about them and their story.
the Mccanns are not that stupid, or?

I think you're right frencheuropean. I'm sure they'll keep very quiet about this book, rather than draw attention to it. We'll have to wait and see.

What most people would do is NOT bring or give any attention to this book, the McCanns well they dont do normal do they......

IMO Gerry will be camped out on Carter Rucks steps as we speak.

Oh, I hope they DO petition to have it banned from Amazon, just like Pat Brown.

Can you just imagine the reaction of the very old, well established, well respected and huge publishing house!

This is better than watching DVDs. Pass the popcorn.

The Author of this book obviously has done an awful lot of research in this case, could Arthur Dreyfus be AKA....... DR MARTIN ROBERTS???

Lillyofthevalley wrote:What most people would do is NOT bring or give any attention to this book, the McCanns well they dont do normal do they......

IMO Gerry will be camped out on Carter Rucks steps as we speak.

Or fulminating furiously on the phone until some kind of action is taken ...
Yes indeed, I think Mr Gerry would demand that this new situation must be 'dealt with' in the usual draconian manner.
Like a rubbish football team, the McCanns have a habit of scoring own goals in circumstances where it would have been better for them not to have taken the field in the first place.
But they never learn - is it that they're bad at taking good advice, or good at taking bad advice, or that they won't take any kind of advice?

IMO this is what happens when people like the sound of their own voices too much and have an over-inflated sense of their own self-importance.

In the meantime. Vive La France!

If you want to see the friendly face of this young writter, here the link to a broadcast on Radio Classique where he is invited tomorrow from 18 to 19 to speak about his musical choices , his previous book :"Le livre qui rend heureux" (and perhaps Belle-famille?)

http://www.radioclassique.fr/les-programmes/a-la-une/articles/article/arthur-dreyfus-invite-de-passion-classique.html

I'll let you know, after the broadcast if something interesting is said about the last book.

almostgothic wrote:

Lillyofthevalley wrote:What most people would do is NOT bring or give any attention to this book, the McCanns well they dont do normal do they......

IMO Gerry will be camped out on Carter Rucks steps as we speak.

Or fulminating furiously on the phone until some kind of action is taken ...
Yes indeed, I think Mr Gerry would demand that this new situation must be 'dealt with' in the usual draconian manner.
Like a rubbish football team, the McCanns have a habit of scoring own goals in circumstances where it would have been better for them not to have taken the field in the first place.
But they never learn - is it that they're bad at taking good advice, or good at taking bad advice, or that they won't take any kind of advice?

IMO this is what happens when people like the sound of their own voices too much and have an over-inflated sense of their own self-importance.

In the meantime. Vive La France!

Almostgothic

Thanks frencheuropean, lets hope there is something to report back with

"Et tout cela pour un enfant que je n'aimais pas." I think that sentence sums up what Maddie meant to her own mother.

frencheuropean wrote:
If you want to see the friendly face of this young writter, here the link to a broadcast on Radio Classique where he is invited tomorrow from 18 to 19 to speak about his musical choices , his previous book :"Le livre qui rend heureux" (and perhaps Belle-famille?)

http://www.radioclassique.fr/les-programmes/a-la-une/articles/article/arthur-dreyfus-invite-de-passion-classique.html

I'll let you know, after the broadcast if something interesting is said about the last book.

A lovely face! Very smiley!

Colonel Fabien wrote:"Et tout cela pour un enfant que je n'aimais pas." I think that sentence sums up what Maddie meant to her own mother.

Ouch!!! He really wrote that?