7 powerful novels on the family

2. “The empty house”, by Laurent Mauvignier

Ed. midnight, 752 p. ; 25 €.

A black -tailed piano, the integral of Rougon-Macquart From Zola, a marble table dresser, drawers filled with papers, photos. This is what Laurent Mauvignier has inherited his father.

There, the air currents are loaded with murmurs, rumors, unsaid, and the walls whisper. What shade did the story of his ancestors have brought to his life, Laurent, whose father committed suicide when he was 16 years old? Why was her paternal grandmother Marguerite erased from all the photos?

Staging his family of landowners from the 20th century, the novelist gave life to Marie-Ernestine, his great-grandmother, remarkable pianist, victim of an arranged marriage, but also to Firmin, Jeanne-Marie, Jules, Monsieur and Madame Claude and the young Paulette.

He thus produced an intense fresco, with long and winding sentences, which recounts the ravages of patriarchy, wars and shame. An era not so distant, whose echo is still heard.

Muriel Fauarit

Our opinion: PPP