The Silence and the Rage

'A novelist at the height of his powers' La Croix

'You have the ingredients Balzac would have cooked with. And it is exactly those great 19th century novels that Lemaitre will remind you of' Sunday Times

It is 1952 and the Pelletier family have returned to a life in France...

Patriarch Louis Pelletier, a successful businessman with a dark past, has remained with his wife in Beirut, but his family have settled on French soil. Jean, the menacing eldest brother, hides a terrible secret and is trapped in a stifling marriage, though his life is enriched by his love for his three-year-old daughter. Fran ois, an up-and-coming reporter, is caught up in a volatile love affair; and Helene, their younger sister, strives to make her own way as a journalist, but as a woman in a man's world, she faces extraordinary challenges as she fights to expose a vast industrial scandal.

Filled with twists and turns, dark and compelling, yet ripe with wit and surprising cliffhangers, The Silence and the Rage is the story of one remarkable family against the backdrop of France during one of its most thrilling and turbulent periods.

'As wonderful as The Wide World. A family and social saga to savour in a sitting' Le Parisien

'Lemaitre's hard-boiled style of writing is perfectly matched by his translator, Frank Wynne' Financial Times