Join us

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Newsletter

Muriel Barbery

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Cover: The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery

Muriel Barbery

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

2008, pp. 336, Paperback
ISBN: 9781933372600
Translated by: Alison Anderson
Region: France
Available as ebook Available as ebook Available as ebook
$ 18.00
READ NOW READ NOW READ NOW
Sample chapter Sample chapter Sample chapter
Reading group guide Reading group guide Reading group guide

The book

The phenomenal New York Times bestseller that “explores the upstairs-downstairs goings-on of a posh Parisian apartment building” (Publishers Weekly)

In an elegant hôtel particulier in Paris, Renée, the concierge, is all but invisible—short, plump, middle-aged, with bunions on her feet and an addiction to television soaps. Her only genuine attachment is to her cat, Leo. In short, she’s everything society expects from a concierge at a bourgeois building in an upscale neighborhood. But Renée has a secret: she furtively, ferociously devours art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. With biting humor, she scrutinizes the lives of the tenants—her inferiors in every way except that of material wealth.

Paloma is a twelve-year-old who lives on the fifth floor. Talented and precocious, she’s come to terms with life’s seeming futility and decided to end her own on her thirteenth birthday. Until then, she will continue hiding her extraordinary intelligence behind a mask of mediocrity, acting the part of an average pre-teen high on pop culture, a good but not outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter.
Paloma and Renée hide their true talents and finest qualities from a world they believe cannot or will not appreciate them. But after a wealthy Japanese man named Ozu arrives in the building, they will begin to recognize each other as kindred souls, in a novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us, and “teaches philosophical lessons by shrewdly exposing rich secret lives hidden beneath conventional exteriors” (Kirkus Reviews).

“The narrators’ kinetic minds and engaging voices (in Alison Anderson’s fluent translation) propel us ahead.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Barbery’s sly wit . . . bestows lightness on the most ponderous cogitations.”—The New Yorker

“Tender and satirical in its overall tone, yet most absorbing because of its reflections on the nature of beauty and art, the meaning of life and death...The intelligent Muriel Barbery has served readers well by giving us the gently satirical, exceptionally winning and inevitably bittersweet Elegance of the Hedgehog.”—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

The author

Muriel Barbery
Muriel Barbery’s novels include the New York Times bestseller, The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Europa, 2008), and Gourmet Rhapsody (Europa, 2009). She is also the author of The Writer’s Cats, illustrated by Maria Guitart, a short tale about esthetics, inspiration, the writing life, and cats. Barbery has lived in Kyōto, Amsterdam, and Paris, and now lives in the French countryside.

Press

From the same country

  • Cover: Dogs and Wolves - Hervé Le Corre

    Hervé Le Corre

    Dogs and Wolves

    2024, pp. 304, $ 18.00
    From the master of French noir and winner of the French Voices Prize, a gripping mystery about the blossoming of poisonous passions set in the brooding...
  • Cover: Paradises Lost - Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt

    Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt

    Paradises Lost

    2024, pp. 480, $ 30.00
    The beginning of a unique adventure, the tremendous challenge of recounting the history of humanity.
  • Cover: Kids Run the Show - Delphine de Vigan

    Delphine de Vigan

    Kids Run the Show

    2024, pp. 304, $ 18.95
    A cautionary tale for a world in which social media has shattered the boundaries of intimacy.
  • Cover: The Ogre’s Daughter - Catherine Bardon

    Catherine Bardon

    The Ogre’s Daughter

    2024, pp. 384, $ 28.00
    The turbulent life story of Flor de Oro Trujillo, the eldest child of one of the world’s most brutal dictators.
  • Cover: Here, and Only Here - Christelle Dabos

    Christelle Dabos

    Here, and Only Here

    2024, pp. 224, $ 14.95
    The new novel from the million-copy bestselling author of The Mirror Visitor Quartet
  • Cover: Forgotten on Sunday - Valérie Perrin

    Valérie Perrin

    Forgotten on Sunday

    2024, pp. 304, $ 28.00
    An unforgettable story about an unlikely friendship and about healing the wounds of a broken past from the million-copy bestselling author of Fresh...

Join Our Newsletter and receive a FREE eBook!

Stay updated on Europa’s forthcoming releases, author tours and major news.

Are you a bookseller? Click here!

Are you a librarian? Click here!

X