Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt

Parce qu'elle est étonnée que son amant Richard Darcy ne lui demande pas de l'épouser, Diane Pommeray décide de le mettre à l'épreuve en lui faisant remarquer que leur amour a changé. Il lui propose la rupture. L'humiliation, la colère et la haine inspirent à Diane une vengeance dont elle ne mesurera pas les conséquences. Elle charge une prostituée roumaine de séduire Richard ...

"A cast of extravagant and affecting characters lovingly portrayed by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt animates these eight contemporary fables about people in search of happiness; from the touching and surprising love story between Balthazar, a wealthy author, and Odette, a shop clerk, to the tale of a barefooted princess; from the moving title story about a group of female prisoners in a Soviet gulag to the entertaining portrait of a perennially disgruntled perfectionist. Behind each story lies a simple, if elusive, truth: though we may be frequently blind to it, happiness is often right in front of our eyes." - from the bookflap of the 2009 paperback edition.

Au théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques, en janvier 1832, le comédien vedette Frédérick Lemaître fait un triomphe dans un mélo à la mode sur le boulevard du crime. Inquiété par la police pour ses penchants républicains, il nargue le ministre de l'Intérieur. Comédien populaire, personnage extravagant, joueur, séducteur, révolutionnaire, il semble prêt à tout sauf à l'amour.

In this latest collection, two young lovers secretly love the child they will never be able to 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.

1942. Les rafles commencent. Joseph parce qu'il est juif, se trouvé confié à des inconnus. Comme tous les enfants cachés, il apprend à taire son nom, son histoire, ses sentiments. Dissimulé dans un pensionnat catholique, il va grandir auprès d'un prêtre, le pè̀re Pons, un homme habité́ par la folie des justes. Sous son é́glise, le père Pons a aménagé une synagogue. La nuit, il y étudie la Torah, la Kabbale, les textes des rabbins et y collectionne les objets de culte. Dans un univers en apparence chrétien, il s'attache à faire survivre la culture juive pour la transmettre à ces enfants afin qu'ils ne perdent pas leur identité. Tel Noé, il a décidé de sauver l'humanité. Malgré́ elle. Contre elle. Que deviendront ces enfants, une fois la paix revenue, avec cette double identité́ : juifs et chrétiens ?

"The Carousel of Desire" is a sexual and romantic saga told with a master storyteller's feel for character and plot and a philosopher's abiding preoccupation with what makes life truly worthwhile. With tenderness and infectious delight, Schmitt tells an exuberant tale about class and community and about the vastness of human experience. Schmitt's love of coincidence and serendipity is surpassed only by his affection for his flawed, all-too-human characters: Zachary Bidermann, the powerful European Union commissioner; Faustina, the fashionable book publicist; Francois-Maxime de Couvigne, the happily married banker with more than a few secrets; Marcelle, enamored with a handsome illegal immigrant; Miss Beauvert, who makes love with her parrot, Copernicus. These and many more unforgettable characters animate this story of simmering desire and the antics of the mischievous and playful god, Eros. Schmitt's inclusive, affirming vision of human sexuality is refreshingly free of moral judgement, yet enriched by an understanding of the complex ethics of human relationships and the redemptive power of love."

Paris in the 1960s. Thirteen-year-old Moses lives the shadow of his less-than loving father. When he's caught stealing from wise old shopkeeper Monsieur Ibrahim, he discovers an unlikely friend and a whole new world. Together they embark on a journey that takes them from the streets of Paris to the whirling dervishes of the Golden Crescent. Translated by Patrick Driver and Patricia Beneke, 'Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of Qur'an' received its British premiere at the Bush Theatre, London, on 17 January 2006.

Point de vue de l'éditeur: Anne vit à Bruges au temps de la Renaissance, Hanna dans la Vienne impériale de Sigmund Freud, Anny à Hollywood de nos jours. Toutes trois se sentent différentes de leurs contemporaines ; refusant le rôle que leur imposent les hommes, elles cherchent à se rendre maîtresses de leur destin. Trois époques. Trois femmes. Et si c'était la même?

""Maman est morte ce matin et c'est la première fois qu'elle me fait de la peine." Pendant deux ans, Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt tente d'apprivoiser l'inacceptable : la disparition de la femme qui l'a mis au monde. Ces pages racontent son "devoir de bonheur" : une longue lutte, acharnée et difficile, contre le chagrin. Demeurer inconsolable trahirait sa mère, tant cette femme lumineuse et tendre lui a donné le goût de la vie, la passion des arts, le sens de l'humour, le culte de la joie. Ce texte explore le présent d'une détresse tout autant que le passé d'un bonheur, tandis que s'élabore la recomposition d'un homme mûr qui n'est plus "l'enfant de personne". Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt atteint ici, comme dans La Nuit de feu, à l'universel à force de vérité personnelle et intime dans le deuil d'un amour. Il parvient à transformer une expérience de la mort en une splendide leçon de vie."--Page 4 of cover.

Despite the centuries that divide them, the stories of three young women--Anne, a 16th century mystic; Hanna, a young 20th century noblewoman; and Anny, a Hollywood star of the 2000s--intersect in surprising ways.

"Set in the 1960s in Paris' Jewish Quarter, Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran is about a troubled Jewish boy, Moses, or Momo, who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a solitary Muslim shopkeeper named Monsieur Ibrahim. Momo's hilarious yet heart-wrenching story begins when he loses his virginity in a bordello at the age of 11. Ibrahim offers Momo his ear and advice, and gradually teaches the precocious boy that there is more to life than whores and stealing groceries. When Momo's father, a passive-aggressive lawyer who neglects his son's well being, disappears and is found dead, Ibrahim adopts the newly orphaned boy. Eventually the two decide to make a trip across Europe to the birthplace of Monsieur Ibrahim that brings them to the most important crossroads of their lives. As this deeply funny and exquisitely crafted plot unravels, it reveals how we learn the most essential aspects of life and death when we expect them the least." "Oscar and the Lady in Pink gives us an entirely different tale of love and courage. Oscar is ten years old and dying of leukemia. He knows that his bone marrow transplant has failed, but the only person who will talk to him about dying is his beloved Mamie-Rose, an elderly volunteer who visits the sick children. When it becomes clear that Oscar's time is growing short, Mamie-Rose gives him an idea: he should pretend that every day he lives represents the passage of ten years, and at the end of each day he should write down his experiences as a letter to God so that he might feel less alone. With Mamie-Rose as his guide, Oscar begins an uplifting journey through days made fuller by the richness of his imagination and spirit."--Jacket.