The book
Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt is the author of three luminous collections of short stories published by Europa Editions, including the bestselling Most Beautiful Book in the World, and the novel, Three Women in a Mirror. The questions at the center of all of these delightful works is the same: What is happiness and how do we attain it? In this latest collection, two young lovers secretly adore the child they can never have; an esteemed physician and survivor of the Nazi concentration camps finds inner peace thanks to the love of a faithful dog; a man loves his wife through the memories of her first husband; and a mother rediscovers love for her child when someone tries to take that child from her. And finally, Séverine and Benjamin understand that they have lost the love of their lives when they see themselves through the eyes of a young terminally ill girl. Love is not easy, and not always easy to find; at times, it is obliged to circumvent social norms and thus transform them; it must be desired, sought, defended. We cannot know what life has in store for us, but we do know that whatever it is, it will only be meaningful if borne on the wings of love. Schmitt’s sublime stories remind us how true this is.
The author
Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt is one of Europe’s most popular and acclaimed authors and playwrights. His many novels and story collections include The Most Beautiful Book in the World (Europa, 2009), Oscar & the Lady in Pink, and Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran. A keen music lover, Schmitt has also translated into French The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni from the original Italian. In 2001, he was awarded the French Academy’s Grand Prix du Théâtre. Schmitt divides his time between Paris, France, and Belgium.
Reviews
- Jan 5 2015
The New York Times: Fiction in Translation - Jul 15 2014
World Literature Today: New Translations - Jul 8 2014
Barnes & Noble Review: "Stories which touch the heart and rouse the spirit." - Jul 1 2014
New York Journal of Books: "What a delight when a writer hits his target as deftly and with such beauty as Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt does in Invisible Love."