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The Beginners

By Anne Serre
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Check link for latest rating. ( 478 ratings, 79 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Anna has lived contentedly for twenty years with Guillaume, but suddenly falls passionately for Thomas, a man scarred by a deep emotional wound. Torn between loyalty and desire, she struggles to navigate her intense feelings, crossing an unnamed footbridge between two loves. Anne Serre's The Beginners is a sensual, unpredictable, and compelling novel that explores the complexities of love and longing.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$3199
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Fans of literary fiction interested in poignant explorations of love, desire, and emotional complexity will appreciate this novel. Readers who enjoy works by authors who blend sensuality with intellectual depth will find The Beginners a memorable and enticing read.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Quintessential Anne Serreโ€”this restless, prowling novel explores love as a form of greed, and confused need as one shape of bereftness

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

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. "How strange it is to leave someone you love for someone you love. You cross a footbridge that has no name, that's not named in any poem. No, nowhere is a name given to this bridge, and that is why Anna found it so difficult to cross."

Anne Serre offers here, in her third book in English, her most direct novel to date. The Beginners is unpredictable, sensual, exhilarating, oddly moral, perverse, absurdโ€”and unforgettable.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Critics praise The Beginners for its originality and enchantment. It has been called "strange, beguiling," and "hypnotic," with a quietly powerful narrative style. The novel is noted for its celebration of female desire and its ability to use classic literary elements to mesmerise readers, delivering an experience that is both exhilarating and morally provocative.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780811230315

Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 06 July 2021

Country: United States

Imprint: New Directions Publishing Corporation

Contributors:

  • Translated by Mark Hutchinson

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 15.0mm

Width: 114.0mm

Height: 185.0mm

Weight: 145g

Pages: 128

Collections

Anne Serre Biography & Memoir Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction

About the Author

The author of fourteen novels and short story books, Anne Serre was born in 1960. Her work has been acclaimed here as โ€œhypnotic, enchantingโ€ (Publishers Weekly), โ€œtight and fabulistโ€ (Full Stop), and โ€strange and beguilingโ€ (Kirkus). Mark Hutchinson was born in London in 1957 and lives in Paris. Among his many translations are Renรฉ Charโ€™s Hypnos: Notes from the French Resistance and The Inventors and Other Poems.

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