Mathias, a young man who works for the cabinet of the mayor of Paris as the writer of speeches and notes is by chance given an extremely delicate mission. He must imagine a way to repair the offence made to Fata Okoumi, an extremely wealthy African businesswoman who has been seriously injured by a policeman to whom she refused to show her identity card. The incident is on the verge of becoming a State affair given the importance of the woman. But there is something even more serious: when Fata Okoumi reveals to the narrator her desire to destroy Paris , Mathias is first terrified then slowly gives in to the desire to grant her this strange wish.
With Martin Page, there is always a “crazy” idea at the origin of the story. Here it is the disappearance of Paris . Like in all his novels, the originality stemming from this craziness is told with realism. This alliance of contraries – madness and logic – is at the heart of the writing of this novel about disappearance and rebirth: somber and lively, joyous and melancholic, nihilist and idealistic, light and grave.
Publishing house : édtions de l’Olivier, 2010
Book club : Le Grand Livre du Mois