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    The Confidant: A Novel
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    The Confidant: A Novel
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    The Confidant: A Novel
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Confidant: A Novel

    Written by Helene Gremillon

    Narrated by Ellen Archer, Robert Petkoff and Natalie Moore

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    "A gripping first novel" (Le Figaro Littéraire) and an award-winning international sensation as haunting and unforgettable as Suite Française

    Paris, 1975. Camille sifts through letters of condolence after her mother's death when a strange, handwritten missive stops her short. At first she believes she received it by mistake. But then, a new letter arrives each week from a mysterious stranger, Louis, who seems intent on recounting the story of his first love, Annie. They were separated in the years before World War II when Annie befriended a wealthy, barren couple and fell victim to a merciless plot just as German troops arrive in Paris. But also awaiting Camille's discovery is the other side of the story, which will call into question Annie's innocence and reveal the devastating consequences of jealousy and revenge. As Camille reads on, she begins to realize that her own life may be the next chapter in this tragic story.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateOct 30, 2012
    ISBN9781101579657
    Unavailable
    The Confidant: A Novel
    Author

    Helene Gremillon

    Hélène Grémillon was born in France in 1977. She has degrees in literature and history and has worked as a journalist at the French newspaper, Le Figaro, before becoming a full-time writer. She lives in Paris with her partner, singer and songwriter Julien Clerc, and their child. She received The Prince Pierre Literary Prize for The Confidant, her first novel. Visit www.helenegremillon.com.

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    Reviews for The Confidant

    3.5/5

    12 ratings9 reviews

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    • 5/5
      A gripping, intriguing story of the intertwined lives of 3 very different women, set in France just before the country is overrun by the German army and modern day.Letters start to be delivered to Camille from someone unknown to her and so begins an absorbing tale of friendship and loss that held me to the end.There was one question which didn't get answered - who was the Confidant?I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Gallic via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.
    • 3/5
      Deception! Secrets! Frenchiness! If you're a fan of historical fiction you should put this book on your list. The lack of communication between the characters irked me at certain points. On the other hand, communication during war time is sketchy at best. The twists and turns were exciting. I gobbled this book up in one day.
    • 4/5
      In Paris in 1975, Camille’s mother has recently died and she is struggling to cope, when she receives the first of a series of long confessional letters from a man called Louis, recalling a love story set in the 1930s and 1940s. The Second World War and the German occupation of France are a backdrop to the story rather than a main part of it.Louis loved Annie from when they were at school together. Annie became friends with a wealthy woman who moved to their village. Madame M is desperate to have a baby and somehow persuades Annie to help her. A complicated, tragic story unfolds.I enjoyed reading this novel and working out the story, but I didn’t find most of the characters entirely convincing – Annie seems too good to be true, and Madame M too scheming and unpleasant. Various references to historical events of the time seem to add little to the story, which is not about the political history of the time.With these reservations, this is still worth reading, and I would probably read another book by the author.
    • 3/5
      When I get a review request in my email inbox for a historical fiction novel with an appealing cover, I just cannot say no. The Confidant, set in Paris, as you can tell from the cover with the ubiquitous Eiffel Tower background, also takes place partially during the WWII era. Basically, I was all kinds of sold. What I love about fiction set in that era is how much variety there is, how much ground to be covered, and, yet again, I found myself in a book very different from any I'd previously encountered. The Confidant is a strange, oddly powerful little book.

      The novel opens on Camille, who, in her mid-thirties, has just become pregnant by her boyfriend and whose mother has just died. These facts matter only in how they affect her mental state at the time of receiving the letters. After bereavement, people send letters, sharing stories, offering condolences, etc. Camille receives a thicker, unsigned letter, and opens it, curious to discover what it contains. Inside, she finds a story, one that seems to have little to do with her. The letters keep coming, always unsigned and always conveying a bit more of the story. This narrative device ensnared my curiosity, much as it did Camille's. What happened to the people in these letters? Were they delivered to Camille by mistake?

      While the bulk of the novel does take place during WWII, I will say that the war serves solely as a backdrop or a sort of catalyst to the drama of the piece. In fact, this story could have happened in another time or another place. It's a story of a woman and a girl, one desperate to fulfill what she sees as her duty and the other trying to find herself.

      The main theme of The Confidant centers around childbirth. Obviously, this isn't a topic of much interest to me ordinarily, but the treatment here really made me think. Madame M desperately wants children, but, despite years of trying, she and her husband have yet to conceive. Constantly bombarded by war propaganda urging the importance of procreation to the continued health of France, Madame M feels guilty and like a failure. Her desperation drives her to try every single rumored cure for infertility, and goodness gracious but it was horrifying. The things women have been asked to do throughout history boggle my mind and sadden me deeply.

      The tale told within these pages surprised me in its sordidness and darkness. Honestly, I expected something much lighter. However, The Confidant turned out to be a tale of sex and betrayal. While I didn't connect with any of the characters on a personal level, I could not help being caught up in their drama and the desire to discover just how the past had become Camille's present and where everyone ended up.

      Sadly, though, I think this novel could have been formatted much better, as it was rather confusing. There are no chapter headings or indications that you're switching from one narrative to another, besides, sometimes, a change in font. Camille's narrative is an awful sans serif font. Then, without warning, the novel switches to Louis' letter. This, at least, had the benefit of being in a different font, but there was no transition at all, so it was jarring. More troublesome was the switch to Annie's perspective, which had no distinguishable difference from Louis'. I read several pages before I finally figured out what was going on. Once I knew what to expect, I didn't have any problems, but this really could have been handled better.

      Grémillon has a poetic sort of writing style, which, while not entirely unpleasant to me, simply was not a style that has particular appeal to me. The phrasing was occasionally quite strange, and reads perhaps more like free verse than prose perhaps, though it could also be a result of an awkward translation from French. Grémillon even ends the novel with a poem, which definitely went rather over my head. I've been trying to do better, but I still have difficulty appreciating poetry.

      For those of a poetic persuasion with an interest in women's issues and history, Grémillon's debut is a must-read. Though it did not end up being precisely my kind of book, I can recommend it highly as a quality read for a slightly different style of reader.
    • 4/5
      I won a free ARC copy through a giveaway. I really enjoyed this book. The characters were so well done. Each complex with their own voice that shines through. While you won't agree with their decisions you can see their reasoning and how well it fits with who they are. All of them extract a response, several responses usually, and nothing is simple. I didn't have a problem at all with the speed or pacing. I was so wrapped up in story. It really is riveting. The plot twists and turns leaving your stomach in knots. I just couldn't put it down. While I'm sure there are other books along the same plot idea this book just does it so well. Even if it sounds contrived and over done and you think you know where the story is going before it starts, I still recommend it. I highly recommend it for everyone really. If it doesn't surprise you, it will at least draw you in and entertain you. Now it's an easy read but it's not light. It deals with heavy topics with a backdrop of a very depressing and terrifying time. It's a drama. A small scale drama where things just cascade out of control. There's so much information given in the blurb so you know what you're heading into yet that knowledge won't spoil the journey at all. There were minor issues with the writing where I had to re-read to get it but I think that's due to translation. I actually liked the writing for the most part. I like how the typeface changed for each character and didn't have a problem remembering who was narrating. The ending paragraphs were very moving. I sat for several seconds just feeling it. Then my brain kick it when I realized there was no afterword and it was really the end of the book. That just irritated me. It was just left hanging on what happens next. I don't expect nor want the next 20 years, how about just the next day? Seriously, after the roller-coaster of ride I went though the track stops in the middle of nowhere leaving me to hike the rest of the way. I feel owed to the confrontation between Camille and the remaining parties of this sordid affair. Without this, I'm not satisfied and that's the main reason why this book is 4 stars instead of 5. I loved the book, I just hate lose ends.
    • 3/5
      Camille lives in Paris in the 1970s and one day, shortly after her mother's death, she receives a letter telling her a story about things that happened during the war. At first Camille thinks the writer has sent the letter to her by mistake, but as she receives more letters she begins to realise that they are in fact meant for her.The letters are written by a man called Louis, and tell the story of Annie, a girl from his village who agrees to have a child for an older woman called Madame M. She appears to be unable to have children and is desperate. The book as a whole is narrated by Camille, with extracts from Louis and from Madame M's journal. It chops and changes quite quickly and if it wasn't for the different fonts used it would be a bit confusing.As it is, this is a reasonable book. I found myself racing through the first part but then lost momentum as it's a strange and disjointed read. I suspect a lot of it is because it's translated from the original which was written in French. Traditionally I find translations difficult to read and to have odd turns of phrase or they just don't seem to flow. However, this is quite a good story, clever with twists and turns and unexpected outcomes. Having it told from different viewpoints does make it interesting, as of course everybody sees it differently.On the whole, not an author I would seek out in the future, but not a bad read. I'll keep away from translations though.
    • 3/5
      The Confidant by Helen Gremillon – an imaginative and unusual story ***Recently bereaved and grieving for her mother, Camille feels unable to face the world. She is pregnant, but has recently split with the father of the baby, and she feels very alone. Luckily, however, she has struck up a friendship with the concierge of the block of flats she lives in.Along with the bereavement cards and wishes, Camille receives an anonymous letter. She initially assumes it is a mistake; but as more letters arrive every Tuesday, she realises that a story is unfolding, and starts to look forward to them. In the letters, she reads about a teenage boy’s fascination with a girl in his village. As they grow older the girl, Annie, takes up with an older woman; realising the pain that the older woman feels due to her infertility (a source of great shame in 1930’s France when women were exhorted to bear many children so that France could make up for its losses in WW1) Annie agrees to bear a child for her.Pregnant herself, Camille feels a strong connection with the story she is reading. But why are the letters addressed to her? Is there another message that the writer wants her to understand?This book is certainly unusual. The narrative jumps around, not only between the 1930s/40’s and the 1970’s, but between different protagonists – so that we see things from the point of view of Camille, the letter writer, Annie herself, and (in a later section) from the other woman. Although this makes the book difficult to read some of the time, it is also a source of great richness, as the events are shown through different people’s eyes. Helpfully the font changes between the two time periods, so the reader shouldn’t get too lost.Personally I found the narrative style of the first half of the book disjointed and hard to follow, and in places rather clunky with new ideas being introduced without context or back story, so that you wonder whether you missed something. It gets more coherent from just after halfway through – and this was when I started to really enjoy it.The ending has a lovely twist – I had to go back and read the last chapter a second time to make sure I had understood it!Overall, I found this a fascinating, imaginative and somewhat challenging read. I will certainly look out with interest to see what this author does next.
    • 3/5
      Camille is sifting through letters of condolence after her mother's death when she notices a handwritten letter from someone she does not know, and every Tuesday that follows she receives another one from a man called Louis who wants to tell her a secret story - the story of his love for Annie from whom he was separated on the outbreak of the war, and as the story progresses Camille feels too that she is involved in this story. A story of love, and jealousy and revenge set as the Nazi troops arrive in Paris. It was not a book I really loved. An OK read.
    • 5/5
      The Confidant by Helene Gremillon was a very interesting read. I have to admit that I was a little confused at first as I began reading but quickly the plot came together and I found myself enjoying this story immensely.It is the story of a young woman whose mother has passed away. She is in the process of selling her parents’ home and getting closure on her life. During this process, she finds herself the recipient of several strange letters. Each week she received a letter telling a story that unfolds to be more than just a story. It becomes something very real.Camille reads of how a young girl agrees to be a surrogate mother for a wealthy woman in pre-war France. It begins so straightforward but soon all parties involved find out that nothing is as simple as life. Each one finds there is more to it than anything they imagined.This is a very powerful story that is extremely well written. I found myself not wanting to put it down. I had to know who was sending the letters and why. The plot was not straight forward. There were twists and turns all the way through it until the very last sentence that took my breath away.There are graphic descriptions within the book as detailed are revealed to Camille of intimate encounters. They are not many present. Just a few that take up a couple of pages. It is a translation from the original book that was written in French a few decades ago.This is a great book for a book club and one that you will enjoy having in your library. If you want something more than the run of the mill book, this is one you should have. I highly recommend it for your summer reading list.Note: This book was provided by the publisher without expectation of a positive review.