Clay - by Franck Bouysse (Paperback)

About the Book

"In this captivating Faulknerian tale of love, masculinity, and vengeance, tensions boil over in a rural mountain community whose able-bodied men have left to fight in World War I. In the heart of Cantal, in the heat of the summer of 1914, the men resigned themselves to going off to fight, far away. Joseph, just 15 years old, must take care of the family farm with his mother, his grandmother, and Leonard, an old neighbor who has become his friend. On the property next door, Valette, kept away from the war due to an atrophied hand, dwells on his grudges and his rage. And now he has to take in his brother's wife and daughter, who have sought refuge with him. The arrival of the two women will end up upsetting a hitherto immutable order and awakening buried passions"--

Book Synopsis

In this captivating Faulknerian tale of love, masculinity, and vengeance, tensions boil over in a rural mountain community whose able-bodied men have left to fight in World War I.

In the heart of Cantal, in the heat of the summer of 1914, the men resigned themselves to going off to fight, far away. Joseph, just 15 years old, must take care of the family farm with his mother, his grandmother, and Leonard, an old neighbor who has become his friend. On the property next door, Valette, kept away from the war due to an atrophied hand, dwells on his grudges and his rage. And now he has to take in his brother's wife and daughter, who have sought refuge with him. The arrival of the two women will end up upsetting a hitherto immutable order and awakening buried passions.

Review Quotes

"An evocative tale of romance and horror...Bouysse vividly portrays the pastoral scenery while sustaining a sense of foreboding...Readers will find much to admire." --Publishers Weekly

"Franck Bouysse builds novels like an architect, writes prose like a painter, and with Clay captures both the beauty and bleakness of nature, the horrors of conflict and matters of the human heart with a poet's precision. This is a masterwork of historical fiction--born of the Cantal region's people as much as its mountains, rivers, and soil--that renders with staggering authenticity the volatile dramas created in the voids of the Great War. A translation to be cherished, Clay is an unforgettable story...superb, sublime, and heartbreaking." --Peter Farris, award-winning author of The Devil Himself

"A magnificent story that keeps the reader in suspense." --ActuaLitté

Praise for Born of No Woman

"This book feels like the Marquis de Sade's Justine if Justine had written it...show[ing] the author's keen observational skills when it comes to class and gender." --CrimeReads, Best International Crime Fiction of the Month

"Undoubtedly effective...There are plenty of narrative surprises as Rose's father seeks to recover her, and she falls in love with the mysterious Edmond." --The Guardian, The Best New Fiction in Translation

About the Author

Franck Bouysse was born in France in 1965. He began his writing career in 2007 after working as a biology teacher. His novel Born of No Woman (Other Press, 2021) won numerous literary prizes in France, including the Elle Readers' Grand Prize, the Booksellers' Prize, and the Prix Babelio. His following novel, Wind Drinkers (Other Press, 2023), won the Prix Jean Giono.

Lara Vergnaud is a translator of prose, creative nonfiction, and scholarly works from the French. She is the recipient of two PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants and a French Voices Grand Prize, and has been nominated for the National Translation Award. She lives in Washington, DC.