Join us

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Newsletter

Michel Bussi

The Double Mother

Cover: The Double Mother - Michel Bussi

Michel Bussi

The Double Mother

2021, pp. 480, e-Book
ISBN: 9781609455200
Translated by: Sam Taylor
Region: France
Book collection: World Noir
Paper edition Paper edition Paper edition
$ 12.99
READ NOW READ NOW READ NOW

The book

From the author of the “wonderfully ingenious” (Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review) novel After The Crash comes a brilliant work of deception that dives deep into the psyche of a child and cruel game of manipulating a person’s memory.

Four-year-old Malone Moulin is haunted by nightmares of being handed over to a complete stranger and begins claiming his mother is not his real mother. His teachers at school say that it is all in his imagination as his mother has a birth certificate, photos of him as a child and even the pediatrician confirms Malone is her son. The school psychologist, Vasily, believes otherwise as the child vividly describes an exchange between two women. Vasily begins recording their conversations and reinterprets the creatures Malone uses in the childish tales he recounts to his stuffed toy to piece the story together as much as he can.

Convinced that Malone is telling the truth, Vasile approaches police commander Marianne Augresse with the case, who has been searching for a gang of thieves that robbed a luxury store and left a couple dead in the neighboring town of Deauville to no avail. Not knowing why a child would lie and with perhaps her own own maternal and protective instinct kicking in, Marianne takes Vasile’s plead for help seriously.

Marianne and her team soon discern that Malone’s memory is in the hands of those around him; the cold members of the Moulin family and the people that they associate themselves with. With Malone’s recollection of the past quickly fading to give way to pirates, animals and other more innocent thoughts children have at his age, Marianne is desperate to find a through line.

Well-crafted and showcasing the fragility of a child’s cognition, The Double Mother is a riveting investigation to follow.

The author

Michel Bussi
Michel Bussi is a professor of geopolitics and one of France’s bestselling authors of the past decade. His novels have been published in 35 different countries. He is the author of After the Crash (Hachette, 2016, Black Water Lilies (Hachette, 2017), and Time Is a Killer (Europa Editions, 2018).

Press

From the same country

  • 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...
  • Cover: A Good Life - Virginie Grimaldi

    Virginie Grimaldi

    A Good Life

    2024, pp. 288, $ 28.00
    Laughter, tears, the transformative power of love, unexpected revelations, and striking natural beauty: these are the ingredients that combine to...
  • Cover: Paradises Lost - Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt

    Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt

    Paradises Lost

    2024, pp. , $ 27.00
    The beginning of a unique adventure, the tremendous challenge of recounting the history of humanity.
  • Cover: Silence of the Choir - Mohamed Mbougar Sarr

    Mohamed Mbougar Sarr

    Silence of the Choir

    2024, pp. 372, $ 18.00
    A polyphonic tale of immigration and community by “the most promising Senegalese writer of his generation” ( Le Monde) and winner of the 2021...
  • Cover: The Postcard - Anne Berest

    Anne Berest

    The Postcard

    2024, pp. 480, $ 18.95
    Brilliantly told, Anne Berest’s luminous, moving, and unforgettable new book The Postcard is the most acclaimed and beloved French novel in...
  • Cover: Living with our Dead - Delphine Horvilleur

    Delphine Horvilleur

    Living with our Dead

    2024, pp. 144, $ 24.00
    WINNER OF THE 2021 BABELIO PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION A timely, powerful reflection on our relationship to death and an invitation to accept...

More suggestions

  • Cover: To Die in June - Alan Parks

    Alan Parks

    To Die in June

    2024, pp. 376, $ 18.00
    From the winner of the MWA Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original Mystery, Alan Parks, comes a new, gripping installment in the gritty Glasgow-based...
  • Cover: The City of the Living - Nicola Lagioia

    Nicola Lagioia

    The City of the Living

    2023, pp. 432, $ 28.00
    From the winner of the Strega Prize, a spellbinding investigation of one of the most vicious crimes in recent Italian history and a journey into...
  • Cover: Pet - Catherine Chidgey

    Catherine Chidgey

    Pet

    2023, pp. 336, $ 18.00
    A new novel from the  Women’s Prize for Fiction longlisted and  Dublin Literary Award shortlisted author of   Remote Sympathy...
  • Cover: Winter Swallows - Maurizio de Giovanni

    Maurizio de Giovanni

    Winter Swallows

    2023, pp. 320, $ 18.00
    The tenth Commissario Ricciardi Neapolitan mystery is “endlessly surprising… a delicate balancing act between love and pain, horror and beauty.”...
  • Cover: The Dark Remains - William McIlvanney, Ian Rankin

    William McIlvanney, Ian Rankin

    The Dark Remains

    2022, pp. 256, $ 16.95
    Winner of the 2022 British Book Award for Crime & Thriller Book of the Year In this scorching prequel, New York Times best-selling author...
  • Cover: Bread - Maurizio de Giovanni

    Maurizio de Giovanni

    Bread

    2022, pp. 352, $ 18.00
    In the fifth installment in Maurizio de Giovanni’s bestselling series, the Bastards of Pizzofalcone face their hardest challenge yet: will they...

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