No Touching

Description

Josephine teaches at a college in a Paris suburb. Her life is a despondent routine of Xanax tablets and Tupperware lunches in the staff room. A tedious existence punctuated by the incessant, onerous, sometimes surreal, directives from the department of education. Except that, every night Josephine undergoes a radical transformation and becomes Rose Lee, a stripper in a night club on the Champs-Elysees. There, under the spotlights, she reclaims her life, reconciles herself to her own body, and falls head over heels in love with the desire she inspires in men, the power she draws from it. Josephine's life is a mixture of glamour and greyness, a heady, dangerous seesaw between the omnipotence she feels when she's desired, and the boredom of her day job. But if she carries on playing with fire, Rose Lee may end up burning her wings. A story of liberation, a heartrending reflection on a woman's image of herself, and the way others see her, Ketty Rouf's extraordinary debut gets right down to shattering tired prejudices about sex and society.

Ketty Rouf was born in Trieste, Italy, in 1970. After readingfor a masters degree in philosophy, she settled in Paris topursue her studies, advised by eminent French philosopherPaul Ricur, and take classical dance lessons. After a stint atthe department of education, she now works as Italian languagetutor, translator and interpreter. No Touching is herfirst novel. Tina Kover is a literary translator whose works include TheBlack City by Georges Sand, Adelaide Bon's The Little Girlon the Ice Floe. For Europa she translated Disoriental byNegar Djavadi, and Older Brother by Mahir Guven.

"A debut novel that skilfully dissects the relationship between the body and freedom." * Franceinfo * "Stunning and surprising, No Touching invites readers to question their own choices and prejudices." * ActuaLitte * "Brimming with eroticism, Rouf's novel is a pitch-perfect rejection of the bland existence of educators in a broken system, and liberated her heroine to explore a more brilliant, colourful life, although not without its consequences" * Booklist * "Exhilarating and unsettling." * Le Figaro * "Both playful and profound." * Le Journal du Dimanche * "Rouf is good on the power dynamics of lap-dancing clubs, positing that the No Touching rule is the crux of their appeal, in that it keeps sex idealised and grants men the illusion of not cheating." * The Big Issue * "A moving story of liberation." * Big Issue North * "A bold and in-your-face look at sex work." * Bookish Chat * "No Touching is a sensual, profound and, at times, philosophical read, due to the nature of the subject, but it is also uplifting and hopeful. Translated work has, yet again, taken me on a wonderful journey into the unknown." * Swirl and Thread / also on Writing.ie * "A fabulous and provocative analysis of desire and its all-consuming power, but also of a woman finding her own sense of self amidst those stereotypical expectations that society projects on women." * Suzie_reads_a_lot * "This is a thought-provoking short novel indeed, but one I enjoyed. It may start off with erotica and sexiness, but in reality it's more philosophical than that and about finding a way, as Shakespeare's Polonious said, 'To thine own self be true,' as Josephine finally does." * AnnaBookBel & Shiny New Books * "A strong, feminist novel which will force the reader to question their own preconceived ideas of women and their career choices." * West Words Reviews * "This is a novel that gets to the heart of desire and power. It is dappled by light and shade, forcing the reader to reevaluate their expectations and stereotypes, whilst at the same time encouraging to look beyond the norm... Be prepared to be dazzled." * BookBound *