120,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿

Come visit us this weekend! Auckland Bookstore open 8:30am-5:00pm Sat & Sun 🎉

A Leopard-Skin Hat

By Anne Serre
Penguin Classics
Series: Penguin International Writers
0.0 (0 reviews)
Brief Description
Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, a heart-wrenching fable of enduring attachment by one of France's most original writers at work today. A Leopard-Skin Hat may be Anne Serre's most moving novel yet. A masterpiece of simplicity, emotion and elegance, it is the story of an... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2800
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, a heart-wrenching fable of enduring attachment by one of France's most original writers at work today.

A Leopard-Skin Hat may be Anne Serre's most moving novel yet. A masterpiece of simplicity, emotion and elegance, it is the story of an intense friendship between the Narrator and his close childhood friend, Fanny, who suffers from profound psychological disorders.

A series of short scenes paints the portrait of a strong-willed and tormented young woman battling many demons, and of the Narrator's loving and anguished attachment to her. Serre poignantly depicts the bewildering back and forth between hope and despair involved in such a relationship, while playfully calling into question the very form of the novel.

Written in the aftermath of the death of the author's little sister, A Leopard-Skin Hat is both the celebration of a tragically foreshortened life and a valedictory farewell.

Translated from French by Mark Hutchinson.

Series: Penguin International Writers

View all
  • Natalja's Stories
    From one of Denmark's most revered authors, a startlingly original novel about a migrant's fate, told across several generations of women. This is the story of a young woman who is spirited away to St. Petersburg from Copenhagen by a lovestruck admirer. When she dies after the Russian Revolution, her ashes are carried back to Denmark, igniting a chain reaction...
    By Inger Christensen
    Paperback
    $2800
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Women Without Men
    A powerful and essential tale of female freedom This internationally acclaimed masterpiece by one of Iran's most important and influential writers traces the interwoven destinies of five women - including a wealthy middle-aged housewife, a sex worker and a schoolteacher - as they arrive by different paths to live together in an abundant garden on the outskirts of Tehran. Drawing...
    By Shahrnush Parsipur
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $3299
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • A Leopard-Skin Hat
    A Leopard-Skin Hat
    Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, a heart-wrenching fable of enduring attachment by one of France's most original writers at work today. A Leopard-Skin Hat may be Anne Serre's most moving novel yet. A masterpiece of simplicity, emotion and elegance, it is the story of an intense friendship between the Narrator and his close childhood friend, Fanny, who suffers from...
    By Anne Serre
    Paperback
    $2800
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • You Are the Führer's Unrequited Love
    You Are the Führer's Unrequited Love
    An electrifying novel about the Nazi who reinvented himself, Albert Speer. "Which is the most seductive, truth or fiction?" This is the story of Albert Speer - The protege. The 'good Nazi'. The star. The mythmaker. In 1969, Speer, Hitler's favourite architect and Minister of Armaments and War Production, publishes his memoirs. Rewriting his own past, claiming to have known...
    By Jean-Noël Orengo
    Paperback
    $3200
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Penguin Book of the International Short Story
    Pre-order
    The Penguin Book of the International Short Story
    The best in short fiction from around the world, from celebrated anthologist and author John Freeman and award-winning novelist Rabih Alameddine. In The Penguin Book of the International Short Story, writers from different nations, languages and sensibilities come together in a globe-spanning and long overdue tour of modern fiction. In 'Super-Frog Saves Tokyo', Haruki Murakami presents a man who believes...
    By Various Authors
    Hardback
    $8500
    Pre-order
    Out 29 Sep 2026
  • The Anniversary
    New Release
    The Anniversary
    A beautiful and merciless novel about the tyranny of the family—and a highly acclaimed bestseller in Italy. On that day, ten years ago, I saw my parents for the last time. Since then I've changed phone numbers, houses, continents, I've erected an impregnable wall and put an ocean between us. They've been the best ten years of my life. A...
    By Andrea Bajani
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3500
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Red Book of Farewells
    Pre-order
    The Red Book of Farewells
    A riveting, witty novel about revolutionary love and motherhood: the final volume in Pirkko Saisio's award-winning Helsinki trilogy. 'This is where she would like to belong, here in the kingdom of women, where words are sharp but gazes are soft.' In 1970s Helsinki, a revolutionary storm is blowing through Pirkko Saisio's university. She has moved out of her family home,...
    By Pirkko Saisio
    Paperback
    $3200
    Pre-order
    Out 24 Nov 2026
  • Blinding: The Left Wing
    The first volume of the enthralling, hallucinatory masterwork by one of Central Europe's most celebrated novelists. 'We exist between the past and future like the vermiform body of a butterfly, in between its two wings' Beneath the streets of communist Bucharest linger hidden passageways, lost to memory. Here, sprawling hospitals give way to travelling circuses and underground jazz clubs, and...
    By Mircea Cartarescu
    Paperback
    Sold Out

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780241791493

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 16 April 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Classics

Contributors:

  • Translated by Mark Hutchinson

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 8.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 197.0mm

Weight: 100g

Pages: 112

Collections

Anne Serre Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction Penguin Books Penguin Classics Penguin Classics: General Fiction Series: Penguin International Writers

About the Author

Anne Serre (b. 1960) is the author of seventeen works of fiction. Her first novel, Les Gouvernantes (The Governesses) was published in 1992 and praised by La Croix for its 'remarkable economy of style'. Among her distinctions are a 2008 Cino del Duca Foundation award and the 2020 Prix Goncourt de la Nouvelle for her short-story collection Au coeur d'un ete tout en or. A Leopard-Skin Hat is the fourth of her books to appear in English. Mark Hutchinson was born in London in 1957 and lives in Paris. Among his many translations from the French are Rene Char's Hypnos- Notes from the French Resistance and The Inventors and Other Poems, and Emmanuel Hocquard's The Library at Trieste and The Gardens of Sallust.

Also by Anne Serre

View all
  • A Leopard-Skin Hat
    A masterpiece of simplicity, emotion and elegance (Le Point) by one of France's most original writers at work today. A Leopard-Skin Hat may be Anne Serre's most moving novel yet. A masterpiece of simplicity, emotion, and elegance, it is the story of an intense friendship between the Narrator and his close childhood friend, Fanny, who suffers from profound psychological disorders....
    By Anne Serre
    Paperback
    $3299
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Beginners
    The Beginners
    Anna has been living happily for twenty years with loving, sturdy, outgoing Guillaume when she suddenly (truly at first sight) falls in love with Thomas. Intelligent and handsome, but apparently scarred by a terrible early emotional wound, he reminds Anna of Jude the Obscure. Adrift and lovelorn, she tries unsuccessfully to fend off her attraction, torn between the two men....
    By Anne Serre
    Paperback
    $3199
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks

More from General Fiction

View all
  • The Wedding People
    'BEST READ OF THE YEAR SO FAR' THE TIMES 'BOOKS AS FUN AS THIS ONE ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN' GUARDIAN Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel in Rhode Island wearing her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Immediately she is mistaken for one of the wedding people — but she's actually the only guest at the Cornwall...
    By Alison Espach
    Paperback
    $2399
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Lizzy's Pick Lizzy's Pick
    Yesteryear
    A BOLD AND BITING SATIRE. WILL HAVE YOU GASPING TO THE FINAL PAGE — Nita Prose WICKEDLY FUNNY, BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND FRIGHTENINGLY PERCEPTIVE — Abigail Dean INVENTIVE, ADDICTIVE, A WILD RIDE — Ashley Audrain SHOT THROUGH WITH HUMOUR AND LACED WITH DARKNESS — Clare Mackintosh The Stepford Wives meets The Handmaid's Tale — Hannah Deitch My name was Natalie Heller...
    By Caro Claire Burke
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3699
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Fourth Wing
    THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NUMBER ONE GLOBAL BESTSELLING PHENOMENON! DON'T MISS OUT ON THE SERIES THAT EVERYONE CAN'T STOP TALKING ABOUT: 'This book contains an addictive, drug-like essence that will make you relinquish all responsibility until the very last word. Do not say I didn't warn you' Glamour 'I didn't sleep, I didn't eat, and when I finished, I...
    By Rebecca Yarros
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Iron Flame
    The instant number one Sunday Times bestseller and thrilling sequel to the global phenomenon, Fourth Wing! DON'T BE THE LAST TO DISCOVER THE SERIES THAT EVERYONE CAN'T STOP TALKING ABOUT: 'Yarros is the true inheritor of Harry Potter and inspires Hunger Games levels of devotion' Guardian 'Fear not, levels of fighting, rebelliousness and all-round sexiness are still sky-high' Daily Mail...
    By Rebecca Yarros
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Carl's Doomsday Scenario
    Join Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat Princess Donut as they fight fantastical creatures and deadly mobs in the second book in the smash-hit Dungeon Crawler Carl series -now with bonus material exclusive to the print edition Now on the third floor, Carl and Donut have to fight harder than ever. They've already proven that a Coast Guard vet and once-and-forever...
    By Matt Dinniman
    Hardback
    $4699
    Elsewhere:
    $6000
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Dylan's Pick Dylan's Pick
    Theo of Golden
    THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING PHENOMENON'For anything to be truly good, there must be love in it. Nothing is what it's supposed to be if love is not at the core.' One morning, a stranger arrives in the town of Golden. No one knows who he is or where he came from…His name is Theo and he's arrived there by chance –...
    By Allen Levi
    Paperback
    $2899
    Elsewhere:
    $3499
    (6)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • A Court of Thorns and Roses
    The first instalment of the GLOBAL PHENOMENON and TikTok sensation, from multi-million selling and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas. Maas has established herself as a fantasy fiction titan – Time Harry Potter magic, Taylor Swift sass, Fifty Shades-level athleticism – The Sunday Times With bits of Buffy, Game of Thrones and Outlander, this is a glorious series...
    By Sarah J. Maas
    Paperback
    $2100
    Elsewhere:
    $2299
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Gate of the Feral Gods
    The fourth book in the explosive LitRPG Dungeon Crawler Carl series New Achievement! Total, Utter Failure.You failed a quest less than five minutes after you received it. Now that's talent. Surviving in a multilevel dungeon that also happens to be the set of the galaxy's most watched game show has taught Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess...
    By Matt Dinniman
    Hardback
    $6000
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Dungeon Crawler Carl
    The apocalypse will be televised! Welcome to the first book in the wildly popular and addictive Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman-now with bonus material exclusive to the print edition! You know what's worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what's worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction...
    By Matt Dinniman
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Carl's Doomsday Scenario
    New Release
    Carl's Doomsday Scenario
    Join Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat Princess Donut as they fight fantastical creatures and deadly mobs in the second book in the smash-hit Dungeon Crawler Carl series—now with bonus material exclusive to the print edition. Now on the third floor, Carl and Donut have to fight harder than ever. They've already proven that a Coast Guard vet and once-and-forever feline...
    By Matt Dinniman
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • A Court of Silver Flames
    The latest instalment of the GLOBAL PHENOMENON, romantic fantasy epic and TikTok sensation, ACOTAR. From multi-million and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas. Maas has established herself as a fantasy fiction titan - Time Think Game of Thrones meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a drizzle of E.L. James – Telegraph Spiced with slick plotting and atmospheric world-building...
    By Sarah J. Maas
    Paperback
    $2100
    Elsewhere:
    $2499
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook
    Carl and Princess Donut have to team up with other contestants to not just survive, but to solve a deadly puzzle in this third, mind-twisting novel in the addictive Dungeon Crawler Carl series -now with bonus material exclusive to this print edition! Carl and Donut have survived so far, but this fourth level is unlike anything they could imagine. The...
    By Matt Dinniman
    Hardback
    $4700
    Elsewhere:
    $6000
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.

General Fiction lists from the team

Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!

The Latest at Book Hero

View all