Paris 1890. Lady's maid Denise le Louarn fears the worst when her mistress, Odette de Valois, vanishes from the Père-Lachaise cemetery during a visit to her husband's grave.All alone in the great metropolis Denise knows just one person she can go to for help: Odette's former lover, Victor Legris, When the frightened girl turns up at his bookshop and tells him her story, Victor feels there must be a simple explanation for her disappearance. But as he begins to look into the matter, it soon becomes clear that something sinister lies behind events at the Père-Lachaise.
Gabriel is a stranger in a small Breton town. Nobody knows where he came from or why he's here. Yet his small acts of kindness, and exceptional cooking, quickly earn him acceptance from the locals. His new friends grow fond of Gabriel, who seems as reserved and benign as the toy panda he wins at the funfair. But unlike Gabriel, the fluffy toy is not haunted by his past…
Poor Hector. Tempus fugit, and our intrepid psychiatrist is not feeling quite as young as he used to. His patients are concerned with time too. One feels she's always in a hurry, as if there's a clock ticking in her tummy – she would like time to slow down. But there's also a boy who wishes time would hurry along and turn him into an adult. And a third patient measures his remaining years in the number of dogs he'll have time to own. Hector feels he must find a solution to the problem of time and so, of course, another journey is required.Follow Hector as he sets off to uncover nuggets of universal wisdom on time.
Paris is in mourning. At the fireworks display marking the Dauphin's marriage to Marie Antoinette, hundreds of people have been injured or crushed to death. Yet not all the victims died accidentally…This tragic incident yields a new case for Commissioner Le Floch when a strangled woman is found amongst the other corpses.The investigation will lead him to the home of a furrier on Rue Royale and a terrifying encounter with supernatural forces.
Can we learn how to be happy? Hector is a successful young psychiatrist. He's very good at treating patients in real need of his help. But many people he sees have no health problems: they're just deeply dissatisfied with their lives. Hector can't do much for them, and it's beginning to depress him. So when a patient tells him he looks in need of a holiday, Hector decides to set off round the world to find out what makes people everywhere happy (and sad), and whether there is such a thing as the secret of true happiness…
Paris, 1774. Commissioner Le Floch's stormy love affair with socialite Julie de Lasterieux has run its course. But before Nicolas can formally end the relationship, Julie is found murdered in her bed, a victim of poisoning. For now, he retains the confidence of even the King, who sends him on a secret intelligence mission. But a plot is afoot to implicate Nicolas in Julie's death, and he is soon fighting to uncover the perpetrators and clear his name.
Enter the world of supernatural crime investigation....In the autumn of 1934 a channel crossing to France takes a paranormal turn for private detective, Andrew Singleton, when he sees an extraordinary mirage and has an encounter with a lady in white.On arrival in Paris he is quickly drawn into a very unusual murder investigation in which the victim appears to have died of fright in his sleep.Who caused this death and how? And could there be some connection to Singleton's experience on the channel? In a city alive with surrealism and metaphysical research, Singleton and his partner James Trelawney set off on the trail of a criminal mastermind, whose evil methods and motives will prove bizarre beyond their wildest imaginings.
What is the secret formula for love? Hector, our intrepid psychiatrist, sets off on a new globe-trotting mission – and this time he's looking for love.
One of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies has employed him to track down their brilliant scientist, Professor Cormorant, who has disappeared abroad with the secret of a modern-day love potion. Leaving behind his troubled relationship with girlfriend Clara, Hector's adventure takes him to the Far East and into the arms of beautiful Vayla, forcing our hero to think deeply about what love really is/means. In his follow-up to the multi-million-selling Hector and the Search for Happiness , acclaimed writer and psychiatrist, Francois Lelord, offers us a new fable filled with thoughtful insights into the very human desire to find and keep love.
‘It’s like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off played out in the French sticks’ The Independent Anna Gavalda explores the themes of time passing and the highs and lows of family life, with characteristic wit, warmth, and brilliant characterisation. On the car journey to a family wedding, Garance reflects on how adult life, with its disappointments and responsibilities, has not always gone to plan for herself or her three siblings. But just around the corner lies the chance for them to revisit their younger, carefree selves in a delightfully unplanned escapade. Reviews‘Fantastic visual portraits’ The Independent Gavalda’s talent for writing and her gift for dialogue make reading her work a delight’ World Literature Today ‘Gavalda sees through ordinary appearances to people’s hidden longings… A gifted literary stylist.’ Vogue ‘Witty … startlingly contemporary’ (4 stars) Book Diva ‘Anna Gavalda has written a story about a topic that troubles a lot of people who see people around them settling down, but aren’t really ready for that yet.’ Librarian Lavander blog
In the turbulent Parisian summer of 1893,Victor Legris has vowed to give up the dangerous hobby of amateur sleuthing to concentrate on selling books. But a murderer is at large in Paris, intent on revenge for events that took place many years before during the Commune. And when a bookbinder friend of Victor's becomes the latest victim of the mysterious Leopard, the young bookseller feels impelled to resume his detective work and uncover the identity of the Batignolles predator.