Lucie Paye

Translated from the French by Natasha Lehrer

Published: 21 June 2022

A Financial Times Best Summer Book of 2022

A woman addresses letters to an absent loved one while in the apartment opposite hers, a mysterious female figure keeps on appearing under a landscape painter’s brush. Directing her reader and characters with a deftness reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, Lucie Paye dramatizes the power of unconditional love and the role of the unconscious in artistic creation. From Paris to Naples, Mauritius and London Absence traces a poignant search for redemption and truth, among the lies that destroy lives.

Preview the first two chapters

‘In this remarkable debut, the story of a painter fixated with a ghostly female figure becomes entwined with the story of a woman seeking to connect with a long-lost son. A delicate tale of artistic obsession and creation, and a moving meditation on longing and loss.’ — Ángel Gurría-Quintana, Financial Times

Paperback with French reverse flaps and lilac endpapers
B-format, 150 pages
ISBN 978-1-7397783-1-6