“Don’t worry about it, that’s not the most important thing for the moment.”
“No, that’s true,” Olga admits. Suddenly she takes the bull by the horns. “You know about Elias?”
“Know what?”
“He’s in prison, Manu didn’t tell you?”
“No!” Juliette exclaims, with tears in her eyes. “He finally gave himself up?”
Her heartbeats turn into palpitations. She can’t stop herself from thinking again of that night, always the same night, when she advised him to turn himself in, a night she’d like to erase from her memory forever, a night of betrayal and a second wife… but a delightful night, too—her last night of love and pleasure with the man she loves. Yet she’d rather never have lived through it. Now she thinks Elias followed her advice, and she has a funny feeling. Something like gratitude. Well, no, not gratitude, but something like that: respect. There, she tells herself, for once he listened to me, for once he respected me. So all her reproaches fade into the background, far, far behind this feeling. All her reproaches are now obsolete. Not that she no longer resents Elias, but an injustice has been repaired. Her urge to stab him erased like chalk on a blackboard. She feels pacified, even if that last night of love with him still lurks in a corner of her mind like a delight and a reproach, both. One day, perhaps, she’ll have the strength to confess it to Olga. Then everything will be tender again, then everything will be fine.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marco Koskas, the author of fifteen books, was born in Tunisia, grew up in France, and now lives in Israel. In 1979, his novel Balace Bounel won the Prix du Premier Roman, and he was a fellow of the French Academy in Rome from 1980 to 1982. In 2012, reviewing Mon cœur de père (Éditions Fayard), Patrick Besson wrote in Le Point: “Koskas is a fighter for his own style. He has remained raw as a Tartar warrior.” In 2018, after being rejected by numerous publishers, Koskas self-published Goodbye Paris, Shalom Tel Aviv on CreateSpace, and the novel was short-listed for France’s prestigious Prix Renaudot.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
David Ball is professor emeritus of French and comparative literature, Smith College. He was named Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Academiques by the French Republic in 2017. He was president of the American Literary Translators Association from 2003 to 2005. His Darkness Moves: An Henri Michaux Anthology 1927–1982 won the MLA’s award for outstanding literary translation in 1995, and his Jean Guéhenno Diary of the Dark Years: 1940–1944 won the French-American Foundation 2014 prize for translation (nonfiction).
COPYRIGHT
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2018 by Marco Koskas
Translation copyright © 2020 by David Ball
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Previously published as Bande de français by the author in France in 2018. Translated from French by David Ball. First published in English by Amazon Crossing in 2020.
Published by Amazon Crossing, Seattle
Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Amazon Crossing are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.
ISBN-13: 9781542008464
ISBN-10: 1542008468
Cover design by Patrick Barry / Laserghost