Description: An emotionally implosive novel about confronting the death of a loved one and the possibility of hope a child brings.
Review Quotes: "You need to read Pascale Kramer's books because they take you on a journey. You board a small ship that enters the human body, and what you felt while reading follows you for days after you've closed the book." --Elle (France)
"A singularly moving and disturbing novel about the ambiguity of feelings."--Le Monde (France) "A knock-out." --Madame Figaro (France) "A flawless black diamond . . . luminous." --L'Hebdo (Switzerland) "A novel with the strength of a stifled cry." --Le temps (Switzerland) "Implacable precision, with a stylistic density that brings out the most moving elements of humanity." --La vie (France) "This book is a jewel of reserve, delicacy, precision and, in the end, of love." --L'express (Switzerland) "The Child is a raw look at the cycles of decay that stalk our lives--the violent deterioration of a low-income neighborhood, the physical degradation of a cancer-wracked body--and the unexpected sources of hope that keep us going." --World Literature Today "Kramer is too accomplished a novelist to spoon-feed the reader adult-sized fairytales . . . life itself is comprised of death, of disease, of a boy's rotten teeth and a lover's disintegrating body. As a boy grows old and corrupt so does a beloved city and civilization. Life itself has its limits, and so does love." --Full Stop "Intense and bravely uncompromising. An adult study of pain, thwarted affection, and guarded privacies in a world at the edge of violent public breakdown. An impressive achievement." --DAVID MALOUF, author of Ransom: A Novel and The Happy Life: The Search for Contentment in the Modern World