Charlotte

I am deeply, deeply affected by this sad, beautiful, indignant, wrenching, important book … It is an artistic privilege and (I think) almost a moral duty that you all read this – SARAH PERRY, author of THE ESSEX SERPENTFoenkinos writes arrestingly about Charlotte, masterfully imagining her interior life … So much space on the page visually transforms each paragraph into a stanza, while lending the words a solemn weight and power … [A] beautiful, wretched story * * Guardian * *An astonishing novel. Every line has something profound to say about love and loss, hope and fear, time and memory, and the enduring power of art – ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY, author of THE LONEYFrom its striking first sentence there is no turning away … A far superior tribute to any commemorative plaque – SARA BAUME * * Irish Times * *Each sentence begins on a new line, giving it the deceptive look of a long poem. The success of this approach, loyally managed by Sam Taylor in his translation, is the make Charlotte read as a series of tricker-tape bulletins, delivered in breathless fits and starts * * London Review of Books * *Unforgettable, poetic * * Sunday Independent * *Quietly but deeply moving, incredibly powerful in its simplicity – CLAIRE NORTH, author of THE FIRST FIFTEEN LIVES OF HARRY AUGUSTHeartbreaking. A story about loss and resilience, set in Nazi Germany, Charlotte is an inspiring novel made all the more powerful by being based on a true story about the life of a relatively unknown artist. The ending comes as no surprise, but I still found myself devastated by it – Sarah Crossan * * Guardian * *A life-changer – POLLY CLARK, author of LARCHFIELDA tour de force. Every important detail and much more of this supreme artist’s life … is recorded lovingly, passionately, obsessively and lyrically … The verse-like narrative … produces a befittingly vibrant creativity * * Jewish Chronicle * *

David Foenkinos is an award-winning French novelist and screenwriter. Charlotte, inspired by the life of Charlotte Salomon, won the Prix Renaudot and the Prix Goncourt des Lyceens; it has sold more than half a million copies in France and been translated into nineteen languages.

Sam Taylor previously translated HHhH, by Laurent Binet, and is the author of the novels The Island at the End of the World, The Amnesiac and The Republic of Trees. He lives in France and the United States.

Charlotte Salomon was born in Berlin, 1917. Unknown in her lifetime, she was one of Germany’s great modern artists. Her greatest achievement was Life? or Theatre? A Song-play - an autobiographical series of 769 works, which she painted over two years in the South of France while in hiding from the Nazis. It has gone on to inspire films, plays and an opera. Salomon died in Auschwitz in 1943, gassed along with her unborn child shortly after her arrival.