French Windows - Antione Laurain - Top Book Pick!

Fiction

Rating: 9/10

Five floors. One Murder. Let the therapy begin…

Nathalia, a young photographer, has been seeing a therapist. Having accidently witnessed a murder from her apartment, she finds she has lost all inspiration.

Doctor Faber suggests a surrogate creative exercise. Write about the neighbours she spends hours idly observing in the building across the street. That she put her eye to an alternative means of framing the lives being lived around her. Going floor to floor, they can be true or entirely made up. With each vivid and beautifully written snapshot, the doctor wonders at the level of detail infused in each story. Has she somehow imbued each with her own fears and desires?

Ground Floor – a woman who changes her lifepath, reinventing herself.

1st Floor – a man who overcomes the status of outcast and loner that his childhood burden him with.

2nd Floor – a songwriter staring at a blank page, desperately terrified of losing his muse.

3rd Floor – a stock trader chasing a vista beyond the endless streams of data filling his screen.

5th Floor – an obsessive smoker who feels tricked by the promise, and fail, of hypnosis to rid him of his habit.

Did you notice I missed a floor? Why’s for me to know and you to find out.

The authors genius at unravelling the story of not only Nathalia, but each of the residents of the floors is masterful. This book was not only a sheer delight to read, but one that will linger in this readers mind.

Book Pairing(s): Smoking Kills by Antoine Laurain, Confessions by Kanae Minato, The Anomaly by Herve Le Tellier