El olor del bosque

Élisabeth Bathori is a photography historian whose life is about to change when eighty-nine-year-old Alix entrusts her with the letters that her uncle, Alban de Willecot, wrote during WWI to his friend, the famous poet Anatole Massis. Élisabeth’s examination of the letters leads her to the discovery of a coded diary and a photo album, an event bound to affect more than her professional career. In her attempt to solve the enigma of these strangers’ lives and recreate the times when Alban and his loved ones were alive and filled with hope and dreams, Élisabeth will find a chance to revisit the shadows in her own past and recognize that she herself—who has just spent long months in mourning—is alive. Her quest for answers and for the woman Lieutenant Willecot loved will take her to Lisbon, Berne, Madrid, and Brussels to interview the people whose memories will help her make sense of a story spanning one hundred years. A monumental, enthralling story, this novel is more than a journey through loss, and an investigation of long-gone lives obliterated by war, silence and the passing of time. It is also a celebration of the unexpected force of love and memory.

Hélène Gestern is a writer. She is also a professor and researcher in the field of linguistics at the University of Lorraine. Her first novel, The People in the Photo, won more than 20 literary awards and was translated into English and Italian, among other languages. Other books include La Part du feu, Portrait d’Après Blessure, and Un Vertige.