DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

The Mystery of Henri Pick

David Foenkinos author Sam Taylor translator

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Pushkin Press

Published:7th May '20

Should be back in stock very soon

The Mystery of Henri Pick cover

In the small town of Crozon in Brittany, a library houses manuscripts that were rejected for publication: the faded dreams of aspiring writers. Visiting while on holiday, young editor Delphine Despero is thrilled to discover a novel so powerful that she feels compelled to bring it back to Paris to publish it. The book is a sensation, prompting fevered interest in the identity of its author - apparently one Henri Pick, a now-deceased pizza chef from Crozon. Sceptics cry that the whole thing is a hoax: how could this man have written such a masterpiece? An obstinate journalist, Jean-Michel Rouche, heads to Brittany to investigate. By turns farcical and moving, The Mystery of Henri Pick is a fast-paced comic mystery enriched by a deep love of books - and of the authors who write them.

"A delight with a novel premise." — CrimeReads

"The Mystery of Henri Pick is so ridiculously French that if it started smoking Gitanes while you read it, you wouldn’t be entirely surprised." — The Sunday Times Culture magazine

"This book is light, funny and erudite: a delight." — The Guardian

"A charming literary caper... A playfully droll satire of the French publishing scene and a completely delightful jeu d’esprit." — The Daily Mail

"Written with humour, wit and intelligence, it's set in a world of books and publishing. I really enjoyed it." — TripFiction

"The Mystery of Henri Pick manages the great gap between levity and profundity, between humour and seriousness. A beautiful farce." — Le Figaro Littéraire

ISBN: 9781782275824

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

288 pages