No and Me Read online

  ‘Miss Bertignac?’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Don’t give up.’

  .

  Chapter 53

  Geneviève has gone back to her counter. She gave us a little wave before she went.

  I must have looked miles away, because Lucas moved his hand gently in front of my face.

  He brought his mouth to mine and I felt his lips first, then his tongue, and our saliva mixed.

  And then I understood that, of all the questions I ask myself, the one about which direction your tongue goes in isn’t the most important.

  .

  A Note on the Author

  DELPHINE DE VIGAN is the author of No and Me, which was a bestseller in France, where it was awarded the Prix des Libraires (The Booksellers’ Prize) in 2008, and in Britain, where it was a Richard and Judy selection. Underground Time was shortlisted for the prestigious Goncourt Prize in 2009. Her books have been translated into twenty-five languages. She lives in Paris.

  .

  A Note on the Translator

  GEORGE MILLER is the translator of Nothing Holds Back the Night and Underground Time by Delphine de Vigan. He is also a regular translator for Le Monde diplomatique’s English-language edition and the translator of Disordered World by Amin Maalouf.

  .

  By the Same Author

  Nothing Holds Back the Night

  Underground Time

  .

  Also Available by Delphine de Vigan

  Nothing Holds Back the Night

  ‘Compassionate and powerful, as well as painful and shocking … The Poirier family – parents and children – appear in a kind of Renoir sunlight, overflowing with life and vibrant personalities, almost enough to conceal the lurking darkness’ Ursula Le Guin, Guardian

  In this moving autobiographical novel, the narrator’s mother, Lucile, raises her two daughters largely alone. A former child model from a large Bohemian family, Lucile is younger and more glamorous than the other mothers: always in lipstick and stylishly dressed, wayward and wonderful. But as the years pass her occasional sadness gives way to overwhelming despair and delusion. This is a story of luminous beauty and rambunctious joy, of dark secrets and silences, revelations and, ultimately, the unknowability of even those closest to us. And in the face of the unknowable, personal history becomes fiction. Nothing Holds Back the Night is universally recognisable and singularly heartbreaking.

  ‘The only way to read this book is to stop, put it down, gasp, absorb the horrors and then read on … It is an overpowering work’ Eileen Battersby, Irish Times

  ‘Thrilling, tender … A genuinely shocking, incandescent read’ Janice Galloway, Scotland on Sunday

  If your device has internet capabilities, please click here for more information.

  Underground Time

  ‘One of those books that grabs you and demands to be read’ Clare Morrall

  Every day Mathilde takes the Metro to the office of a large multinational, where she works in the marketing department. And every day Thibault, a paramedic, drives to the addresses he receives from his controller. Mathilde is unhappy at work, frozen out of office life by her moody boss. Meanwhile, Thibault is unhappy in love and all too aware that he may be the only human being many of the people he visits will see for the entire day. Mathilde and Thibault seem to be just two anonymous figures in a crowded city, pushed and shoved and pressured continuously by the isolating urban world. But surely these two complementary souls, travelling their separate tracks, must meet?

  ‘Delphine de Vigan is a sensation’ Observer

  ‘What’s most startling about this novel is how de Vigan makes the mundane come alive. She’s an expert in detail, charging even the most ordinary situation with emotion, which makes for a massively affecting read’ **** Psychologies

  ‘Sympathetic, compelling, enjoyable’ Guardian

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  First published in Great Britain in 2010

  This electronic edition published in August 2010 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  Originally published in France in 2007 as No et moi by Editions JC Lattès

  Copyright in the original text © JC Lattès 2007

  Copyright in the English translation © George Miller 2010

  The moral rights of the author and translator have been asserted

  All rights reserved

  You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

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  A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

  eISBN: 978-1-4088-1395-9

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