LITERARY FICTION
DROWNING THE KITTENS
Betty gives birth at home, while her husband, a journalist, has disappeared during a mission in Somalia. The child, in breathing distress, is taken from her at birth. But a stranger will soon pretend to be her husband and officially names the baby “Noah”…
Françoise Guérin
FORMAT: 140 x 205
PAGES: 400
WORDS: 90 000 approx.
PUBLICATION DATE: 01/20222
PUBLISHER: Eyrolles éditions
ALL RIGHTS AVAILABLE
The Work
Betty gives birth under particularly trying conditions, at home, while her husband is away. Then, everything goes from bad to worse. She learns that her journalist husband has disappeared during a mission in Somalia. The child, in breathing distress, is taken away from her at birth. A stranger pretends to be her husband and visits her baby in the neonatal unit, a baby he has officially declared and named Noah.
Betty is taken care of at the hospital, at Dr. Lorrain’s mother-baby unit, as she is found agitated and incoherent. In this unit, between caregivers and residents, she finds the benevolent welcome of a family of heart, which soon will allow her to weave a fragile bond with her baby.
But who is this stranger who seems to be targeting her? Where has her husband disappeared? Can she trust Detective Tranchet who says he wants to help her? So begins an anxiety-inducing chase that will gradually bring back memories of a traumatic childhood and with them the answers to these worrying questions…
The Author(s)
Françoise Guérin is a trained psychologist and novelist. Her first detective novel, À la vue, à la mort, won the 2007 Cognac Detective Novel Award and the 2008 Jean Zay High School Student Award. The book was adapted for French television and became the TV movie Lanester, with Richard Berry in the lead role. A subtle detective underneath his rough appearance, Lanester is back in her following novels Cherche jeunes filles à croquer and Les Enfants de la dernière pluie. Her latest novel, Maternité, published by Albin Michel received the 2019 Lettres frontière award.
Key Sales Points
– A unique and breathtaking psychological plot that keeps the reader on the edge of his seat.
– A book, half-way between literary fiction and an oppressive psychological thriller, draws the reader in relentlessly, between a personal quest and a police chase.
– The themes addressed: motherly feelings, the mother-baby bond and its obstacles, abused childhood