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LITERARY FICTION“Un livre juste, fort, nécessaire…” RegardsDjavann, Chahdortt: LA DERNIÈRE SÉANCE(Fayard, August 2013, 490 pages)Ø Djavann has composed a fast-paced novel that is fascinating to read, full of plot twists and has aninteresting, two-part construction.Ø In this intense narrative, a woman opens the doors to her past. She shares her pain, as well as her joy andlove of languages; the pages of this book deal with the body, exile, femininity, desire and survival.Ø This book will appeal to anyone who’s interested in Iran, exile and freedom. It is the moving tale of achaotic fate, encompassing reflections about exile, trauma, depression, identity and more.Chahdortt Djavann’s novels speak of exile and of adapting to a new life. In this book, she pays tribute tothe French language, a refuge within which she builds both a fate and a novel.Chahdortt Djavann was born in Iran in 1967 and moved to Turkey in 1991. In 1993, she arrived inParis, where she studied anthropology at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. Her editorials appearfrequently in the French press, and she gives conferences regularly throughout France, Europe and the USA. Anovelist and essayist, Chahdortt Djavann is the author of BAS LES VOILES! (Gallimard, 2003), LA MUETTE(Flammarion, 2008), and JE NE SUIS PAS CELLE QUE JE SUIS (Flammarion, 2011).“Un roman fort, une lecture à la fois captivante et éprouvante qui continue de vous habiter une fois leroman terminé. Djavann dresse un portrait de femme qui rend hommage au courage et à l'esprit de survie etinvite à réfléchir à la condition féminine au-delà de nos frontières.” Page des libraires“À travers ce roman, Djavann poursuit son combat pour le respect des femmes sur un ton toujoursalerte. Son sérieux cède parfois la place à d'étonnantes pirouettes.” Femme MajusculeGoby, Valentine: KINDERZIMMER(Actes Sud, August 2013, 224 pages)Ø A striking portrait of young Mila, whose body is like a mirror to the metamorphosis of all bodies.Ø Goby’s KINDERZIMMER is in the vein of those novelists who address history through a singleindividual’s fate, like Laurent Binet and HH.hh.Ø An incisive style with short, hard-hitting sentences that illustrate the camp’s violence.Ø • Valentine Goby, who trained as a historian, offers more than just a historical narrative. She also reflectson the necessity of language in order to survive, to escape and eventually, to bear witness.Mila, a young Frenchwoman, is a political deportee sent to Ravensbruck during World War II. For a fullyear she faces the apocalyptic reality: sick, emaciated bodies; violence and the need for language, and then theKinderzimmer, a room that houses the camp’s infants.Springtime, 1944: Mila arrives at Ravensbruck in a convoy of 400 women, all French politicaldeportees. Suddenly she is faced with a new reality: ravaged bodies, hunger, sickness and humiliation. She willneed to learn the words, to follow the orders and to live in unbelievably close quarters. In addition to the generalsense of uncertainty about what the future holds is the fact that she thinks she’s pregnant, but isn’t sure. Milashares her doubts with Teresa, the young Polish woman whose sleeping mat she shares. Teresa gives her the willto live and to accept the infant growing inside her. But as soon as he is born, the child, who she thought was hersto keep, is placed in the Kinderzimmer with all the other babies. Despite the ban, Mila manages to sneak in andsee the babies lined up in rows. Undernourished, their faces are like those of elderly people. The infants’ lifeexpectancy is just three months, and her James will succumb like the others. The nurse offers to let her adopt thechild of a woman who died in childbirth. She can work at the camp hospital and see the baby regularly. Thecountdown has begun, because Mila knows the baby won’t be able to survive for more than three months. Butthe war comes to an end, and Mila goes back to France with the child. It isn’t until years later, when the childturns 21, that Mila reveals to him that he was born in Ravensbruck.Valentine Goby adopts a choppy style, punctuated with long lists, the better to drive in the reality of thecamp and to portray the unbearable atmosphere. She focuses on the transformation of the women’s bodies,illustrated by Mila, whose unique fate blends easily into the group’s.Valentine Goby was born in 1974. In 2003, she won the University of Artois First Novel Prize forNOTE SENSIBLE (Gallimard), following Muriel Barbery. Her other books include L’ECHAPPEE (Gallimard,18Contact: Mrs Anastasia Lester ; Email:anastassia.lester@gmail.com