Avant Les Hommes

It is the story of a boy who lives alone with his mother, in a small semi-detached house on a housing estate. It is summer, the dangerous season, the time of violence. This is the story of Jeremy, who is bored and obsessed with Sami. This is the story of a desertion.
There is no hope for love in this book because the body, feverish with waiting and frustration, takes all the space, fills it with void and vertigo. Youth is a savage state where everything can happen; everything can be destroyed because it all rests on one force: desire.
For this novel, written after Mes mauvaises pensées (prix Renaudot 2005), Nina Bouraoui chooses a male narrator. She constructs a fiery, sensual tale that unveils the tumult and fragility of adolescence. From one book to the next, Nina Bouraoui demonstrates a renewed capacity to enthrall us through the singularity and captivating power of her writing. Nina Bouraoui was born in Rennes in 1967. She has written, amongst other books, La voyeuse interdite - awarded the Livre Inter 1991 prize - Le jour du séisme, Garçon manqué, La Vie heureuse, Poupée Bella and Mes mauvaises pensées, awarded the Renaudot prize in 2005.