Sainte Emmerderesse

The narrator sets the tone. With a sharp pen and an exuberant style, Audrey Alwett’s first novel follows four characters who join forces to raise from the ashes a mocking saint, the young protégée of Madame de Maintenon. This seemingly ill-matched foursome is made up of a young firefighter, an undervalued care assistant, a lesbian German-Algerian writer and an old atheist Jewish doctor. Their colourful adventures carry the reader into a corner of Normandy steeped in racism and homophobia, where the return of Saint Emmerderesse might just shift the lines.

Who has never been robbed? Humiliated? With her delicious, biting pen, Audrey Alwett writes the revenge of the poor girls by raising from the ashes a mischievous saint.

Sainte Emmerderesse is the wild adventure of a project that escapes its creators. Impertinent and irresistible, it invites us into a joyful, thrilling way of living together. A corrosive first novel you will devour.

“We all want a Sainte Emmerderesse in our lives.”

“Invigorating, funny, mischievous, modern, a broadside against the haters: it’s wonderful!”

“Here is a writer who knocks the haloes off. With an acid, very British humour and solidly drawn characters, Audrey Alwett turns laughter into an act of resistance.”

Musical reading

Sainte Emmerderesse, with harp and lyrical voice

Audrey Alwett reads extracts from the novel, accompanied by the harpist and lyric singer Ameylia Saad Wu. For bookshops, libraries, festivals and book fairs, on request.

Duration

1 hour

Fee

On quotation

Sound

Technical rider on request

Travel

Costs paid by the organiser

Where to buy

From your local bookshop, ideally. These sites show you which one near you has it in stock.