'Into the garden they came, and with them a whole bundle of memories and desires…'
Hylas and the Nymphs by John William Waterhouse
Lessons in shame, lust, and constraint: Anne Serre's The Governesses
In a large country house, shut off from the world within a gated garden, three young women responsible for the education of a group of little boys are hanging paper lanterns for a party...
Following on from publication in the US by New Directions, we too are dusting out our paper lanterns to celebrate Anne Serre’s UK debut, published 2nd April. Read an exclusive extract published today on Granta.
'Book Body' © Cécile Menon, 2019
'A delightful sabbath.' Libération
'Colourful, by turns elegant and violent, it provokes that enchantment borne out of an unbridled imagination.’ Marie Claire
'Prim and racy, seriously weird and seriously excellent.' The New York Times
‘A rollicking, not-suitable-for-work fable about three young governesses
not particularly well suited to work.' LitHub
Anne Serre is the author of fourteen books, as well as numerous short stories and essays, and the recipient of a 2008 Cino del Duca Foundation award. From 1992, till 2000, she worked under a pseudonym as book editor of a leading magazine for women. Mark Hutchinson’s many translations include René Char’s Hypnos: Notes from the French Resistance and The Inventors and Other Poems.
Pre-order here.
Paperback, 180x120, 108 pages, £10.00 RRP, ISBN: 978-0-9930093-9-6
Watch The Governesses reviewed on France 24 between books by Leila Slimani and the doyenne of French feminism Benoite Groult as one of the 'latest must reads'.