In the Café of Lost Youth

Those familiar with Modiano will recognise his themes, his settings, his characters. Yet there is never any repetition, or sense of déjà vu. Rather the sentiment that nothing is mere chance.

Some novels, the more precious and necessary, render their readers more vulnerable, disarmed and fragile. And such is the case with this deeply moving portrait of a woman so familiar, and yet so lost, drawn by Modiano at the exact border between shadow and light.

As beautiful as a tragic song...

Those familiar with Modiano will recognise his themes, his settings, his characters. Yet there is never any repetition, or sense of déjà vu. Rather the sentiment that nothing is mere chance.

Patrick Modiano is certainly the greatest contemporary French novelist. A magnetic novel, set in a magical Paris ... A new precious stone.

Some novels, the more precious and necessary, render their readers more vulnerable, disarmed and fragile. And such is the case with this deeply moving portrait of a woman so familiar, and yet so lost, drawn by Modiano at the exact border between shadow and light.

As beautiful as a tragic song...