I Remain in Darkness

"A testament to the persistent, haunting, & melancholy quality of memory."--Richard Bernstein, The New York Times. "As revealed by Ernaux, the details of a loved one's deterioration have such emblematic force & terror that the particular becomes universal." --The New York Times Book Review. "Ernaux courageously bears witness both to complex multiple truths of family relationships & to the fierce persistence of family love." --The Washington Post Book World. "Originally written, unguarded, unreconstructed, unadorned." --The Review of Contemporary Fiction In the summer of 1983, Annie Ernaux's mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. "I Remain in Darkness" traces the descent of Ernaux's mother into the depths of the disease & reveals the author's own complex feelings of guilt & responsibility toward the woman she still loved & admired but could no longer help.

Born in 1940, ANNIE ERNAUX grew up in Normandy, studied at Rouen University, and began teaching high school. From 1977 to 2000, she was a professor at the Centre National d’Enseignement par Correspondance. Her books, in particular A Man’s Place and A Woman’s Story, have become contemporary classics in France. She won the prestigious Prix Renaudot for A Man's Place when it was first published in French in 1984. The English edition was a New York Times Notable Book and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. The English edition of A Woman’s Story was a New York Times Notable Book.