The Panda Theory

Gabriel is a stranger in a small Breton town. Nobody knows where he came from or why he's here. Yet his small acts of kindness, and exceptional cooking, quickly earn him acceptance from the locals.

His new friends grow fond of Gabriel, who seems as reserved and benign as the toy panda he wins at the funfair.

But unlike Gabriel, the fluffy toy is not haunted by his past . . .

Pascal Garnier is a leading figure in contemporary French literature, in the tradition of Georges Simenon. He lived in the Ardeche. Pascal Garnier died in March 2010.

“'This often bleak, often funny and never predictable narrative is written in a precise style; Garnier chooses to decorate his text with philosophical musings rather than description. He does, however, combine a sense of the surreal with a ruthless wit, and this lightens the mood as he condemns his characters to the kind of miserable existence you might find in a Cormac McCarthy novel' Observer 'The Panda Theory is a short, tightly plotted novel that keeps you guessing right to the end. Is Gabriel, the man we see arriving in a Breton town one Sunday evening, a hero or a villain? Is his reserve a sign of modesty or of malevolence? The novel has a dryness and a keen, often sharp wit combined with a sense of life's banalities, that I really enjoyed' New Books Magazine 'The combination of sudden violence, surreal touches and bone-dry humour have led to Garnier's work being compared with the films of Tarantino and the Coen brothers' Sunday Times 'Action-packed and full of gallows humour' Telegraph 'Grimly humorous and tremendously dark ... Superb' Figaro Litt”

'Grimly humorous and tremendously dark - Superb.' Figaro Litteraire 'Pascal Garnier is not just an accomplished stylist but also an exceptional storyteller - The Panda Theory is both dazzlingly humane and heartbreakingly lucid.' Lire

Pascal Garnier, who died in March 2010, was a talented novelist, short story writer, children's author and painter. From his home in the mountains of the Ardeche, he wrote fiction in a noir palette with a cast of characters drawn from ordinary provincial life. Though his writing is often very dark in tone, it sparkles with quirkily beautiful imagery and dry wit. Garnier's work has been likened to the great thriller writer, Georges Simenon.

Gabriel is a stranger in a small Breton town. Nobody knows where he came from or why he's here. Yet his small acts of kindness, and exceptional cooking, quickly earn him acceptance from the locals. His new friends grow fond of Gabriel, who seems as reserved and benign as the toy panda he wins at the funfair. But unlike Gabriel, the fluffy toy is not haunted by his past . . . Pascal Garnier is a leading figure in contemporary French literature, in the tradition of Georges Simenon. He lived in the Ard

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