Maria Pourchet, Eminé Sadk, Olivia Laing, les estives pyrénéennes, Meïr Dagan, Jacques Ellul : la sélection livres de Sud Ouest

Several new books span fiction, literary essay, reportage and biography, with themes ranging from identity and exile to art, war and intelligence. Eminé Sadk’s novel “Caravane pour corbeaux” follows a geography professor on a journey that reveals the mixed histories and multiple identities that shaped Bulgaria’s population. The novel is described as humorous and warmly observed, and it has already found strong success in Bulgaria.

British writer Olivia Laing’s “Lonely City,” now translated into French, turns New York into a map of artistic loneliness. The essay is built around four 20th-century artists: Edward Hopper, Andy Warhol, Henry Darger and David Wojnarowicz. Through them, Laing explores solitude, creativity and the emotional landscape of the city, in what is presented as a major literary essay.

Thierry Maugenest returns to the terrain of Cézanne with a new crime novel, “Dans l’ombre de Cézanne.” Set in a Provençal bastide during the Second World War, the story follows a group of painters whose lives change after the discovery of a mysterious notebook. The book combines suspense, art history and wartime tension, continuing the author’s fascination with Cézanne’s world.

In nonfiction, Florence Debove’s “Sur tes pentes – Carnets d’estive” recounts a summer spent in the Pyrenees during mountain grazing season. Debove, who is herself a shepherd, writes and draws from direct experience, describing her work with animals, her attachment to the land and the constant demands of weather and predators. The book is praised for its honest tone and hand-drawn illustrations.

Another report-style book, “Dans la maison d’un taliban” by Élise Blanchard, is based on three years spent being welcomed by a Taliban family. The book reconstructs conversations without avoiding difficult subjects and offers a rare view of everyday life in Afghanistan, where religion is central and women have almost no freedom. It aims to shed light on a society seen from inside.

Samuel M. Katz’s biography “L’Architecte de l’espionnage” tells the story of Meïr Dagan, the former commando who became the feared head of Mossad. The book traces his life from Gaza to southern Lebanon and presents him as a central figure in Israeli intelligence history, in a narrative framed as especially relevant today.

Finally, the volume “Jacques Ellul, entre technique et liberté,” edited and introduced by Patrick Chastenet, gathers four major works to offer a fuller understanding of the French sociologist and Protestant theologian. The collection highlights Ellul’s enduring reflections on technology, freedom and modern society.