#French Winner Prix Goncourt 2023

by Jean-Baptiste Andrea (no photo)


Finish: 17.12.2023
Title: Veiller Sur Elle
Genre: novel (580 pg)
Language: French
Rating: A++++++++++
Winner Prix Goncourt 2023

Good news: Anyone who enjoys a great story, a plot with many twists and turns
will love this book. I’m so fortunate to be able to read it in French…but put this one
on your “books in translation” reading lists for 2024.
It is breathtaking!

Good news:

1. One of the best “hook” chapters I’ve ever read!
2. Narrator: Michelangelo Vitaliani born 1904
3. …is now  dead and is going to reveal
4. …why he never took his vows but
5. …remained in the abbey for  four decades.
6. Who can resist a story like this?
7. Masterfully done…by Jean-Baptise Andrea!

Quick scan: An old man, Mimo, dies in an abbey and to understand
the object of his last request, (Veiller Sur Elle = watch over her, protect her)
he lets us listen to his story before his last breath.

Personal: A marriage engagement, para-gliding crash,
a stone-cutter’s workshop and Circus Bizzaro
…all elements that have caputred my attention.
This is an unforgetable love story between Viola and Mimo.
The Prix Goncourt 2023 is a well-deserved prize for Jean-Baptiste Andrea.
In years past the committee “Goncourt” disappointed me
…but this year they choose a book worth reading!
Honestly, I feel sad that the book has ended…I was so enthralled by
the writing. It will be difficult to start an new book
…b/c I will be comparing it to Veiller Sur Elle.

Abbey on Sacra di San Michele, a tenth-century monastery perched atop a little rocky mountain in Piedmont. The film version of “The Name of the Rose” brought it to world attention. In the basilica, you’re alone with the echo of your footsteps. It is also used as the “abbey” in this book!