Suspended Sentences: Three Novellas

Publisher Marketing: In this essential trilogy of novellas by the winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature, French author Patrick Modiano reaches back in time, opening the corridors of memory and exploring the mysteries to be encountered there. Each novella in the volume "Afterimage," "Suspended Sentences," and "Flowers of Ruin" represents a sterling example of the author s originality and appeal, while Mark Polizzotti s superb English-language translations capture not only Modiano s distinctive narrative voice but also the matchless grace and spare beauty of his prose. Although originally published separately, Modiano s three novellas form a single, compelling whole, haunted by the same gauzy sense of place and characters. Modiano draws on his own experiences, blended with the real or invented stories of others, to present a dreamlike autobiography that is also the biography of a place. Orphaned children, mysterious parents, forgotten friends, enigmatic strangers all appear in this three-part love song to a Paris that no longer exists. Shadowed by the dark period of the Nazi Occupation, these novellas reveal Modiano s fascination with the lost, obscure, or mysterious: a young person s confusion over adult behavior; the repercussions of a chance encounter; the search for a missing father; the aftershock of a fatal affair. To read Modiano s trilogy is to enter his world of uncertainties and the almost accidental way in which people find their fates." Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 10/20/2014 (EAN 9780300198058, Paperback) Kirkus Reviews 12/01/2014 (EAN 9780300198058, Paperback) - *Starred Review Library Journal 12/01/2014 pg. 99 (EAN 9780300198058, Paperback) Booklist 12/15/2014 pg. 27 (EAN 9780300198058, Paperback) New York Times Book Review 12/28/2014 pg. 16 (EAN 9780300198058, Paperback) New York Times Book Review 01/04/2015 pg. 22 (EAN 9780300198058, Paperback) Contributor Bio:  Modiano, Patrick Patrick Modiano was born in Paris in 1945 in the immediate aftermath of World War Two and the Nazi occupation of France, a dark period which continues to haunt him. His parents were often absent, and his childhood was spent in various boarding schools. After passing his baccalaureat, he left full-time education and dedicated himself to writing, encouraged by the French writer Raymond Queneau. From his very first book ("La Place de l'Etoile", 1968) to his most recent ("Pour que tu ne te perdes pas dans le quartier", 2014), " "Modiano has pursued a quest for identity and some form of reconciliation with the past. His books have been published in forty languages, while his screen plays include "Lacombe Lucien" (dir. Louis Malle, 1974). Among his many prizes are the Grand Prix du Roman de l'Academie francaise (1972), the Prix Goncourt (1978) and the Austrian State Prize for European Literature (2012). In 2014 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.