The Silence and the Rage

From “a novelist at the height of his powers,” a dramatic and jubilant dive into France in the “glorious years” of the 1950s, through the lens of one ambitious, troubled, and utterly compelling family (La Croix).

It is 1952 and the grown children of Louis Pelletier, a prominent businessman with a dark past, have settled in Paris. Jean, the menacing eldest brother, is trapped in a stifling marriage, his days lightened only by his love for his three-year-old daughter. Meanwhile, the bloody consequences of his violent impulses threaten to catch up to him at last.

François, an up-and-coming reporter, is caught up in a turbulent love affair with an intriguing woman who isn’t quite the person she pretends to be. And Hélène, their younger sister, strives to make her own way as a journalist as she fights to expose a vast industrial scandal. But as a woman in a man’s world, Hélène’s devotion to her career comes at a life-threatening cost.

Dark and compelling, witty and vivid, and filled with surprising reversals and cliffhangers, The Silence and the Rage is the story of one remarkable family against the backdrop of France during one of its most thrilling and volatile periods.