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A King Alone
A King Alone | Jean Giono
An existential detective story by one of France's most popular modern writers, set in a mid-nineteenth century mountain village, available in English for the first time The book started off entirely by chance, without even a character. The character was the Tree, the Beech, and the starting pointthat was the discovery of a crime: a dead body turns up in the branches of this tree. There was the Tree; there was the victim; an inanimate thing, a corpse. Well, the corpse requires a murderer, that's clear, and the murder requires investigation. What I wrote was a novel about the investigator. Thats what I wanted to write, but it had to start with a tree that had nothing to do with the story at all. Such was Jean Gionos account of how A King Alone came to be. The title alludes to Pascals saying A king without distraction is a man full of wretchedness, and the book is set in a remote Alpine village in the mid-nineteenth century. At its center is the enigmatic officer Langlois. In deepest winter, the inhabitants of a remote Alpine village mysteriously begin to disappear. Langlois comes from afar to protect the village and investigate the crime. Gionos novel about a tiny community at the dangerous edge of things and a man of law who is ever more a man alone could be described as a metaphysical Western. It unfolds with the uncanny inevitability and disturbing intensity of a dream.
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saresmoore
A King Alone | Jean Giono
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IN MY DEFENSE, I ordered all three of September‘s options second-hand from indie bookshops. Also in my defense, @youneverarrived has really great taste and #NYRBBookClub is the best. ♥️😅🥰

ValerieAndBooks Nice haul!! But it appears as if you were being watched as you took the picture 😄 (edited) 5y
vivastory When it comes to NYRB, no explanation is needed. Well-done! 👏 5y
saresmoore @ValerieAndBooks Creepy, isn‘t it? Watched by my dad‘s perfectly WASPy family from the ‘70‘s... 5y
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youneverarrived I love it 🖤 the cover for A King Alone is beautiful. 5y
Suet624 Good for you! Enjoy. 5y
saresmoore @Suet624 Thank you! ♥️ 5y
emilyhaldi No defense necessary!!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 5y
BarbaraBB We from your #NYRBBookClub completely understand 😉😍 5y
GatheringBooks awesome!! 5y
ReadingEnvy Where does #NYRBbookclub live? 5y
saresmoore @ReadingEnvy It was @vivastory ‘s brainchild & it‘s all on Litsy. From the group of initial members, we are each assigned a month to submit three selections and all the members vote. Anyone can join in the readalong and discussion for what‘s chosen each month. 5y
ReadingEnvy That's amazing! 5y
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