Anne Serre

Translated by Mark Hutchinson

First UK edition published 2 April 2019

Shortlisted for the Scott Moncrieff Prize 2020
Shortlisted for the Best Translated Book Awards in fiction 2019

Written with the elegance of old French fables, the dark sensuality of Djuna Barnes and the subtle comedy of Robert Walser, this warped erotic fairy tale of a novella introduces UK readers to the marvellous Anne Serre.

In a large country house, shut off from the world within a gated garden, three young women responsible for the education of a group of little boys are hanging paper lanterns for a party. Their desires, however, lie elsewhere... Meet The Governesses: wild or drifting about in a sated, melancholy calm; spied upon by Monsieur Austeur, fascinated by the ever more mysterious unfolding of events, like the charms and spells of a midsummer night's dream…

Read excerptsin The London Magazine, Grantaand TANK
Read an interview with the author in BOMB
See reviews in the Times Literary Supplement, Translating Women and more

By the same author: The Fool and Other Moral Tales (2021).

108 pages
paperback, 180 x 120 mm
isbn 978-0-9930093-9-6

NB: Due to sales restrictions and VAT regulations, this book does not ship to countries of the EU, Canada or the USA. For the EU, please use alternative UK or local online retailers. This book is published in North America by New Directions.

Photograph 'Book Body' © Les Fugitives, 2019