The Lost Manuscript

Starred review from November 2, 2020
French novelist Bonidan makes her English-language debut with this poignant and powerful epistolary romance about the effect a book can have on the lives of its readers. Anne-Lise Briard is surprised to discover an unpublished manuscript in a hotel nightstand in Brittany. She’s quickly entranced by the brief but passionate love affair contained within its pages and, after she’s finished reading, she feels compelled to send the manuscript to an address written in the margins, hoping to reunite the work with its author. In reply, she receives a note from Sylvestre Fahmer, who lost the manuscript when it was still a half-finished work in progress on a trip to Montreal in 1983. Intrigued by the mystery of who could have completed the story, Anne-Lise and Sylvestre search for the second author. Together with Anne-Lise’s childhood friend, Maggy, and William, an international poker player they meet along the way, they retrace the manuscript’s path across Europe through correspondence with the people who have read it, uncovering the way the novel has affected the lives and loves of its readers. The epistolary form allows Bonidan to incorporate myriad emotional love stories, resulting in a sweeping, heart-tugging romance. Readers will be thrilled. Agent: Marleen Seegers, 2 Seas Literary.

January 1, 2021

French author Bonidan's first novel to be translated into English features Anne-Lise Briard, a young woman who finds a manuscript of a romantic novel in the nightstand of a hotel in a seaside town in Brittany. The story's beauty strikes her so distinctly that once she returns to her home in Paris, she is driven to hunt down the manuscript's author and the reason that it ended up abandoned in said dusty drawer. Anne-Lise writes letters to the hotel in Brittany and to her best friend, Maggy. Then the chase is on, told in letters back and forth from an ever-expanding group. When Anne-Lise finally hears back from the author, he reveals that the manuscript was lost 30 years ago on a flight to Montreal. How did this lovely story get from one place to another? How many lives has it touched? Liaisons are formed, hearts are broken and mended, new friends travel and meet, and, eventually, all mysteries are solved. VERDICT This epistolary work is a charming boulevard of twists and turns. A magnifique French tale of letters, romance, and the love of books, it will be a welcome escape for all.--Beth Gibbs, Davidson, NC

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