Consolation

An international bestseller and French publishing sensationConsolationis a dazzling, heartbreaking tale of one man, two remarkable women and an unforgettable transvestite.

Charles Balanda is forty-seven; a successful architect, he is constantly on the move. But from the moment he hears about the death of the woman he once loved - Anouk, the tragically big-hearted mother of a childhood friend - his life begins to unravel until, one day, he finds himself on a Paris pavement covered in blood. But fate brings him one final chance to be happy in Kate, an enchanting young woman, herself damaged but fearless and in love with life.

The resulting story is a triumphant, spellbinding and ultimately consoling novel about the power of a second chance.

Born in 1970, Anna Gavalda was a teacher whose collection of stories,I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere,shot her to fame (published in Vintage together with her novella,Someone I Loved). Her novelHunting and Gathering(Ensemble c'est tout) was a bestseller in several countries, selling over two million copies, and was made into a film. Her books have been translated into thirty-six languages. The mother of two children, she lives and writes just outside Paris.

A story of life, love and second chances from the author of the international bestseller, Hunting and Gathering