Summer holidays are coming. The editorial staff of JustFocus has selected for you different titles to take to the beach or the mountains, for a summer filled with literary adventures!
Cécile's proposals
The first miracle by Gilles Legardinier (2016)
What could be better than a great adventure to take you further than your deckchair? Gilles Legardinier became known with humorous novels, featuring human characters at a turning point in their lives. After the success of Tomorrow I stop! or Someone for whom to tremble, Gilles Legardinier tries his hand at adventure novels. And the essay is transformed! The First Miracle launches us on the trail of Adolf Hitler and his megalomaniac delusions. Secret agent Karen Holt and Benjamin, a historian of science, will discover a dark universe where ancient relics contain mysterious powers. Their investigation will take the strange duo of an old English church to the ruins of an Egyptian temple. Karen and Benjamin will have to learn to work together and keep their minds open. Many surprises await them. A lot of twists, a great adventure and a good dose of humor. Gilles Legardinier masters his characters more real than life and knows how to make us appreciate them. A good survey that we read in one go and from which we come out full of energy!
Colors of the fire by Pierre Lemaître (2018)
Prix Goncourt in 2013 for Au revoir là-haut, Pierre Lemaître is back. The adaptation of his novel was awarded at the 2018 Césars. Pierre Lemaître was not done with his characters. Couleurs de l'incendie began in February 2017, at the funeral of Marcel Péricourt. His daughter, Madeleine, found herself alone to lead the Péricourt empire. His brother Edouard had committed suicide seven years earlier. Madeleine will have to take charge of the family business, her disabled son, disentangle herself in front of a suitor she does not want… Never mind, Madeleine will get by. The small story embraces the big one. In the midst of Madeleine's misadventures, the reader discovers the France under the Third Republic. A France ruined by the crisis of 1929. We see the rise of totalitarian regimes, the struggle of women demanding their independence, the peace of the interwar period that falters. Despite this heavy historical atmosphere, Pierre Lemaître's novel is very funny. Described as a "serial novel", Couleurs de l'incendie is full of life and sparks. Let yourself be inflamed by Madeleine!
Kler's suggestions
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (1844)
The sun hits on the Marseille coast, and facing the sea, who has never dreamed of adventures and heroic characters? Imagine yourself in the nineteenth century and meet Edmond Dantès aka The Count of Monte Cristo. A novel of adventure and revenge, The Count of Monte Cristo will make you escape more than ever from your daily life, in an environment of southern countries. From Marseille to Italy, follow the epics of Edmond ready to do anything to take revenge on those who wanted to separate him from his beloved Mercédès. The novel makes us discover a thousand and one landscapes, making us travel at the same pace as Edmond. These same landscapes where the sun dazzles us, the eyes are perfect for a good read of sunny summer. Of course, we will never tire of Dumas' wonderful writing, as well as the intelligence with which this masterpiece was written. Even if the number of pages can be scary (1377 pages folio edition), this book is a real page-turner. How will Edmond succeed in taking revenge? It's up to you to go and discover it!
Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1600)
A little comedy and magic to enchant our summer. This is A Midsummer Night's Dream by Master Shakespeare, which will transport you to the magical forests of Greece. This story full of misunderstandings, confusions and misunderstandings will make you spend a funny time and full of madness. Meet the lovers Lysander and Hermia, as well as Demetrius and Helena whose destinies will be linked, and also Oberon, Bottom and Titania for whom Puck has reserved good surprises … This play that looks like a dream that is both delirious and full of lightness is an excellent play to read in summer to get in the mood of a sweet and peaceful night (but not rest!). Obviously, who says Shakespeare says masterpiece, so do not hesitate and take advantage of this summer to immerse yourself in this play full of surprises!
Alexia's recommendations
Love letters to the dead by Ava Dellaira (2014)
It all started with a letter. A simple writing requested by a teacher: write to a disappeared. Laurel chose Kurt Cobain, because his older sister May adored him. And that he died young, like May. If she never gives up her homework, very quickly, Laurel's notebook fills with letters to Amy Winehouse, Heath Ledger… To these unexpected confidants, she tells her first year of high school, her broken family, her new friends, her first love. But before writing to the only missing woman who is really close to her heart, Laurel will have to confront the secret that torments her, and face what really happened the night May died.
Serre-moi fort by Claire Favan (2016)
"Hold me tight. It might sound like a cry for help. Young Nick, first of all. Collateral victim of the unexplained disappearance of his sister, forced to live in a broken home and between two parents totally obsessed with their search for truth. He would love his mother to take him in her arms… Then from Adam Gibson. Police officer in charge of leading the team investigating the discovery of a horrific mass grave in Alabama, he must identify the victims, all women, and try to trace the killer, who cleverly covered his tracks. If Adam can pinpoint some of his motives, that's about it. And he takes the risk of too much that throws him directly into the arms of the killer. Then begins between them a psychological confrontation of rare violence… Don't you hear their desperate call when everyone whispers, "Hold me tight"?
L'adversaire d'Emmanuel Carrère (2000)
On January 9, 1993, Jean-Claude Romand killed his wife, his children, his parents, then tried, but in vain, to kill himself. The investigation revealed that he was not a doctor as he claimed and, even more difficult to believe, that he was nothing else. He had been lying for eighteen years, and this lie covered nothing. On the verge of being discovered, he preferred to suppress those whose gaze he could not bear. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. I got in touch with him, I attended his trial. I tried to tell precisely, day after day, this life of loneliness, imposture and absence. To imagine what was spinning in his head during the empty hours, without project or witness, that he was supposed to spend at work and actually passed on motorway parking lots or in the forests of the Jura. To understand, finally, what in such an extreme human experience has touched me so closely and touches, I believe, each of us.
Elya's advice
Fille de Bohème by Vania Isabelle Prates (2018)
If there is a book to absolutely slip in your suitcase it is Fille de bohème by Vania Isabelle Prates. This is a book that will make you travel for sure. Through the ages. Through Paris, its cobbled streets, old Montmartre and even the Court of Miracles.This novel tells the story of Mélissandre, but she prefers Méli, who has everything she wants in life: a well-paid job, a perfect fiancé, and a future mapped out. But this tidy little life will change during the bachelorette party of her best friend where she will meet a mysterious hypnotist.This experience will lead him to meet through his dreams Evelyn, a seasoned thief of the Court of Miracles. They will never meet, but will both try to pursue a quest for identity. Four centuries apart.
Mystery, suspense, romance and beauty. A tasty cocktail to enjoy with your feet in the sand. Ready to let yourself be transported?
You are ready to face this holiday! Stay tuned, JustFocus will be there all summer to offer you new recommendations. Good reading!
