Billie

Description

This heartwarming story is about two unlikely friends who give each other the courage to do what they never thought possible. Our story opens with Billie and Franck trapped in a gorge in the Cevennes Mountains. As Franck lies unconscious, Billie appeals to a star for protection by telling stories from their lives. Billie vividly recollects how her friendship with Franck changed her life and struggles with the idea that - thanks to her mistake - she might lose him forever. They met a decade prior when they were assigned as acting partners in class. For the first time, Billie felt someone respected her and Franck didn't feel so alone. The blossoming of their friendship was comforting for both pitted against the harsh realities they faced. Billie is tough because she has to be: her mother left her when she was just an infant and she lives in poverty with her abusive father and stepmother. Franck is more reserved, afraid to reveal who he really is to his unemployed homophobic father for fear of being rejected. Together Billie and Franck rescue each other. These two outcasts find a home together in Anna Gavalda's moving portrayal of platonic love and how far two people are willing to go for each other. Quirky, but gritty, this charming and emotional ode is for anyone who has felt the transformative power of friendship.

Born in Paris in 1970, Anna Gavalda published her first work in 1999 while working as a high school French teacher. Je voudrais que quelqu'un m'attende quelque part, a collection of short stories, was met with both critical acclaim and commercial success, selling more than three-quarters of a million copies in her native France. The book was translated into numerous languages and sold in twenty-seven countries. Gavalda has since published three novels, all of which have become bestsellers across Europe. Her first novel, Someone I Loved, was made into a movie in 2000 and the 2007 film adaptation of her novel Hunting and Gathering starred Audrey Tatou. Her most recent work, The Cracks in Our Armor, was shortlisted in the Belles-Lettres Category for the Grand Prix of Literary Associations (GPLA) in 2017. In addition to writing novels, Gavalda contributes to Elle Magazine. She lives in Paris. Jennifer Rappaport received a BA in English and French from Vassar College and an MA in comparative literature from New York University, where she was awarded a Chateaubriand Fellowship from the French government. A former editor at Oxford University Press and the New Press, she is currently a freelance editor and translator in New York.

Praise for Billie "Billie is a revelation! It's Gavalda's finest novel yet." --France 2 "The work is a testament to Gavalda's fine storytelling skills, which remain true even in the books' translation into English." --Minneapolis Star Tribune "Gavalda's sparkling impertinence and her childlike joie de vie are irresistible." --Marie Claire (France) "A sensitive, delicate, funny, immensely readable story." --Olivia de Lamberterie, France 2 "Gavalda's books have both wit and a whimsical charm." --The Sunday Telegraph "Anna Gavalda's novels make her a distant cousin of Dorothy Parker." --Vioci "Precision, tenderness for her characters, a sense of detail, and an intoxicating mix of nostalgia and pure joy make Anna Gavalda a unique author." --Le Figaro "Gavalda writes warm hearted-fiction, with plenty of culture, emotion and thoughtfulness." --The Telegraph (UK) Praise for Anna Gavalda "Both stories have a sentimental streak, but Ms. Gavalda, a best-selling author in her native France, puts them across with charm." --The New York Times "Gavalda's writing is engaging and lyrical." --World Literature Today "With writing this beautiful and charming, and heartbreakingly sincere, Gavalda makes the journey well worth the effort." --The Cedar Rapids Gazette "[Like Anne Tyler and Nick Hornby] Anna Gavalda has the ability to create intelligent dramas with a witty sideline in banter-driven dialogue...Her stock in trade is the endearing oddball. Her characters' peccadilloes drive the narrative engine as much as plot delivery. Conversation turns towards the manic passions of obsessives." --The Independent (UK)