Who will succeed Sarah Jollien-Fardel, winner in 2022 for her first novel Her Favorite? A little over a month after its first selection, the jury for the 22nd Fnac novel prize reduced its list from 30 to 5 books. “This choice, we read in a press release, is a reflection of the enthusiasm freely expressed through well-argued reading feedback, and the notes of the 400 booksellers and 400 Fnac members making up the jury this year.”
Among them, we find confirmed authors such as Thomas B. Reverdy, François Mauriac Prize 2011 for L’Envers du monde, Interallié Prize 2018 for L’Hiver du mécontentement, which returns this year with Le grand aide, (Flammarion); the political scientist and novelist Rachid Benzine, author of Silences des pères, (Seuil); Jean-Baptiste Andrea, 2017 First Novel Prize with Ma Reine, 2021 RTL Read Grand Prize with Devils and Saints. This year he is publishing Veiller sur elle, (The Iconoclast), a picaresque novel in which we follow the tribulations of a genius sculptor in Italy in the first part of the 20th century.
We also note the names of two first-time novelists: Julie Héraclès with You don’t know anything about me (Lattès) and Eric Chacour with What I know about you, (Philippe Rey). “These five books, we still read in the press release, highlight the role of history in personal stories, as well as the weight of social and family relationships in the construction of individual identities.”
The name of the winner will be announced on August 30. He will be honored on September 11 during a big public evening organized by Fnac at the Edouard VII Theater.
The full list:
Watch over her, by Jean-Baptiste Andrea, The Iconoclast
The Silences of the Fathers, by Rachid Benzine, Seuil
What I know about you, by Éric Chacour, Philippe Rey
You don’t know anything about me, by Julie Héraclès, JC Lattès
The Great Help, by Thomas B. Reverdy, Flammarion
