Life, Only Better
Published on 8. October 2019
210 pages
978-1-60945-303-9 (ISBN)
Description
Two lost young Parisians discover new paths for their lives in this charming pair of novellas by the international-bestselling author of
Billie.
Twenty-four-year-old Mathilde has abandoned her studies in art history for a job leaving anonymous negative comments on websites. One day she loses her bag in a café-a bag that happens to contain ten thousand Euros. When an unknown man returns it to her a week later, Mathilde becomes obsessed with the mysterious encounter.
Twenty-six-year-old Yann works as a sales assistant in a home appliances store while he waits for better days to come. He wouldn't say he is unhappy. But sometimes, late at night, when he is crossing a bridge over the River Seine, he imagines jumping. One day he does a favor for one of his neighbors and is asked to stay for dinner as thanks. The following morning Yann throws caution to the wind and decides to change his life entirely.
These two novellas by bestselling author Anna Gavalda are among her most moving and inspiring. Life, Only Betteris a touching, cleverly crafted book about choices and their consequences.
Twenty-four-year-old Mathilde has abandoned her studies in art history for a job leaving anonymous negative comments on websites. One day she loses her bag in a café-a bag that happens to contain ten thousand Euros. When an unknown man returns it to her a week later, Mathilde becomes obsessed with the mysterious encounter.
Twenty-six-year-old Yann works as a sales assistant in a home appliances store while he waits for better days to come. He wouldn't say he is unhappy. But sometimes, late at night, when he is crossing a bridge over the River Seine, he imagines jumping. One day he does a favor for one of his neighbors and is asked to stay for dinner as thanks. The following morning Yann throws caution to the wind and decides to change his life entirely.
These two novellas by bestselling author Anna Gavalda are among her most moving and inspiring. Life, Only Betteris a touching, cleverly crafted book about choices and their consequences.
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Anna Gavalda's first published work was the critically acclaimed collection of short stories I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere, which sold over half a million copies in her native France and was published in the US by Riverhead in 2003. She is also the author of Someone I Loved, Hunting and Gathering, made into a film starring Audrey Tautou and Daniel Auteuil, French Leave (Europa 2011), and Billie (Europa 2015). Gavalda lives in Paris.Tina Kover's published works include the Modern Library translation of Georges by Alexandre Dumas pére, The Black City by George Sand (Carroll & Graf), and Maurice G. Dantec's Cosmos Incorporated and Grand Junction. In 2009 she received a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship for the translation of Manette Salomon by the Goncourt borthers.
Content
- Intro
- LIFE, ONLY BETTER
- MATHILDE
- ACT ONE
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
- 6.
- 7.
- 8.
- 9.
- 10.
- 11.
- 12.
- 13.
- 14.
- 15.
- 16.
- ACT TWO
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
- ASIDE
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
- ACT THREE
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
- ACT FOUR
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
- 6.
- FINAL ACT
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
- YANN
- ONE, THE BALL
- TWO, DEMONS
- THREE, THE CHAMONIX
- FOUR, THE MARQUISE
- FIVE, THE MICROWAVES
- SIX, THE MESS
- SEVEN, THE DESCENT
- EIGHT, COURTESY
- NINE, THE CROSSING
- TEN, THE OPPOSITE RIVERBANK
- ELEVEN, THE HORIZON
- TWELVE, TERRA FIRMA
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
