Based on a True Story

Description

What would you do if your closest friend tried to steal your life? 'Combining the allure of Gone Girl with the sophistication of literary fiction, Based on a True Story is a creepy but unapologetically clever psychological thriller' Independent Today I know that L. is the sole reason for my powerlessness. And that the two years that we were friends almost made me stop writing for ever. Overwhelmed by the huge success of her latest novel, exhausted and unable to begin writing her next book, Delphine meets L. L. is the kind of impeccable, sophisticated woman who fascinates Delphine; a woman with smooth hair and perfectly filed nails, and a gift for saying the right thing. Delphine finds herself irresistibly drawn to her, their friendship growing as their meetings, notes and texts increase. But as L. begins to dress like Delphine, and, in the face of Delphine's crippling inability to write, L. even offers to answer her emails, and their relationship rapidly intensifies. L. becomes more and more involved in Delphine's life until she patiently takes control and turns it upside down: slowly, surely, insidiously. Based on a True Story is a chilling novel of suspense that will leave you questioning the truth and its significance long after you have turned the final page.

Delphine de Vigan is the author of bestselling No and Me, it was awarded the Prix des Libraires in France, in Britain it was a Richard & Judy selection. Her other novels include Nothing Holds Back the Night which won the Prix FNAC and the Grand Prix des lectrices de ELLE, Underground Time was shortlisted for the Goncourt Prize in 2009. D'apres une histoire vraie is a French bestseller and has won both Le Prix Renaudot and Le Prix Goncord des Lyceens 2015. It is currently being adapted for a screenplay by Roman Polanski and Olivier Assayas. She lives in Paris. George Miller is the translator of Nothing Holds Back the Night, No and Me and Underground Time. He is also a regular translator for Le Monde diplomatique's English-language edition, and the translator of Conversations with my Gardener by Henri Cueco and Disordered World by Amin Maalouf.

The latest literary sensation ... It has people in a word-of-mouth frenzy I've not seen since Gone Girl ... De Vigan's description of a close female friendship is a compulsive but agonising read * Celia Walden, Daily Telegraph * This is that rare beast - a fine thriller and a potential literary sensation. Patricia Highsmith would have been proud. Don't miss it * Daily Mail * All writing is constructed on shifting sands, but I've never read a book that makes the complex relationship between reality and fiction both as visible, and at the same time so opaque, as here. I was captivated. Combining the allure of Gone Girl with the sophistication of literary fiction, Based on a True Story is a creepy but unapologetically clever psychological thriller that also aces the Bechdel test * Independent * If Simone de Beauvoir had written Single White Female with nods to Marguerite Duras, the result might be something like this latest Gallic grip-lit sensation * Joanna Briscoe, Guardian * A wonderful literary trompe l'ceil: a book about friendship, writing and the boundary between reality and fantasy ... Dark, smart, strange, compelling * Harriet Lane, bestselling author of Her * A sophisticated modern take on an old trope (a film adaptation by Roman Polanski and Oliver Assayas is planned) ... An unlikely mash-up of thriller and conte philosophique, Based on a True Story insists on the author's right to blur the lines * Evening Standard * A superior identity-theft thriller on the same spectrum as The Talented Mr Ripley, or Single White Female ... De Vigan has produced a concept thriller with a lavish dash of theorising about the status of fiction and reality * Sunday Times * The novel casts a spell of enchantment: there's always some new anxiety or fear to make the mind wonder - just what the hell is going on? ... Just don't peek ahead! The very last word will make you rethink everything you've just read. Utterly brilliant * Spectator * An incredible true story of obsessive female friendship that grips until the very last mark on the very last page * Denise Mina, bestselling author of The Long Drop * This is an unnerving picture of a toxic relationship and it's no surprise de Vigan's study of betrayal is to be filmed by a specialist in this dark territory, Roman Polanski * Financial Times * A suspenseful look inside the mind of a writer, as Delphine escapes her writer's block with an alluring new woman * Grazia * A masterclass in manipulation ... An uneasy blend of fact and fiction, this psychological thriller will keep you gripped * Psychologies * A story that keeps the reader guessing until - and beyond - the very end ... A story of memory and friendship, a cracking page-turner and a journey into what the essence of fiction, and indeed autobiography, might be. Excellent * Nicholas Searle, author of The Good Liar, shortlisted for the 2016 CWA New Blood Dagger * This is an addictive read. Clever, compulsive and deft. De Vigan kept me guessing to the point where I even began to question the reality of the pages in my hand. Fantastic * Ann Morgan, author of Beside Myself * A chilling tale of obsessive female friendship that keeps you guessing until the last page. What is reality? What is fantasy? * Tatler * Based on a True Story hit the exact right note: frighteningly honest, precise and thrilling * Julie Myerson, Observer * Very well written and translated * Literary Review * Dangerously deceptive ... A brilliant and terrifying blurring of reality * Sainsbury's Magazine * In this captivating story of imprisonment ... Delphine de Vigan intelligently questions the place of the writer in our society of imitation * Le Figaro * An excellent novel: malign, Machiavellian, manipulative ... This new book is a struggle to put down * Parisien * A dizzying, psychoanalytical story within a story ... Fascinating * Le Point * Delphine de Vigan teases her readers' desire for truth, and plays with the grey area between reality and fiction ... Highly convincing * Le Monde * Enthralling, not only brilliant in its construction - chilling, worthy of the best thrillers - but also it has a rare finesse in its constant questioning of the act of writing * Page * If Simone de Beauvoir had written Single White Female with nods to Marguerite Duras, the result might be something like this Gallic grip-lit sensation ... [de Vigan] plays with the tropes of the psychological thriller, but her work is steeped in philosophical ruminations -- Joanna Briscoe * Guardian *