Gallic Books

Described as 'fiendishly clever' by Books+Publishing, The Weaver Fish incorporates mathematics and science into a thrilling plotline.

'The Weaver Fish is not merely ambitious but unclassifiable.' Australian Book Review

A novel about friendship and morality, epigenetics, mathematics, linguistics, aviation, condors, gloomy lift shafts, a tornado-proof Texan hat, and more.

Puzzle or pastiche? A unique, stimulating genre mash-up, The Weaver Fish is a mischievous, intriguing and playful debut novel from an Australian science professor.

From the great Meiji writer Natsume Sōseki, The Miner is an absurdist tale about the indeterminate nature of human personality.

'It makes me very happy that I can read this novel written over a hundred years ago as if it were contemporary and be deeply affected by it. It cannot and should not be overlooked. It is one of my favorites' Haruki Murakami

The Miner is the most daringly experimental and least well-known novel of Japanese writer Natsume Sōseki. An absurdist tale written in 1908, it was in many ways a precursor to the work of James Joyce and Samuel Beckett.

Translated by Jay Rubin, and with an introduction from Haruki Murakami, this is bound to appeal to fans of Japanese literature.

Longlisted for the 2014 Miles Franklin Literary Award

Tracy Farr’s acclaimed debut novel is the fictional memoir of Dame Lena Gaunt: musician, octogenarian, junkie.

'Compelling reading' The Listener 

I hold one regret from that day: that I put my first love, my cello, aside. But it was to take up a bigger love, a greater thing; it was to step into the future. Music's Most Modern Instrument. And I was to become Music's Most Modern Musician.

Tracy Farr's debut novel is the fictional memoir of Dame Lena Gaunt: musician, octogenarian, junkie. Documentary filmmaker Mo Patterson approaches veteran musician Lena Gaunt after watching her play at a festival in Perth: her first performance in 20 years.

While initially suspicious of Mo's intentions and reluctant to have her privacy invaded, Lena finds herself sharing stories from her past.

From a solitary childhood in Malacca and a Perth boarding school, to a glittering career in Jazz-age Sydney, to quiet domesticity in a New-Zealand backwater, Lena's is a life characterized by the pull of the sea, the ebb and flow of passion and loss, and her enduring relationship with that extraordinary instrument, the theremin. 

Shortlisted for the Goncourt first novel award, Octavio's Journey is an epic fable about an extraordinary hero.

'Simply magical' Elle

A compact but kaleidoscopic fable of Venezuela from a stunning new voice in the magical realism tradition.

His body might have been hewn from a tree trunk; his heart would last for a hundred years. And, like a tree, he was one of those men who die standing up.

A chance meeting in the local pharmacy transforms the life of lonely, illiterate Octavio. He begins reading lessons and finds love and happiness for the very first time. But Octavio's destiny lies elsewhere, as he will discover on a journey into the Venezuelan rainforest.

From the author of The Red Notebook, described as 'Parisian perfection' by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, French Rhapsody is a funny, charming tale of music and the paths not taken. 

'Beautifully written, superbly plotted and with a brilliant twist at the end' Daily Mail 

Middle-aged doctor Alain Massoulier has received a life-changing letter—thirty-three years too late.

Lost in the Paris postal system for decades, the letter from Polydor, dated 1983, offers a recording contract to The Holograms, in which Alain played lead guitar.

Back then The Holograms had believed in their cutting-edge sound. However, the music industry remained indifferent, and eventually the band split up, each going their own way.

Alain is overcome by nostalgia, and is tempted to track down the members of the group. But in a world where everything and everyone has changed . . . where will his quest take him?

In The Eskimo Solution, the 'slyly funny' [Sunday Times] Pascal Garnier brings us a story of a writer whose imagination begins to seep into his real life.

'A gem' The Globe and Mail

Life imitates art in Pascal Garnier's offbeat tale of a crime writer and the murderous protagonist of his novel.

A crime writer uses the modest advance on his latest novel to rent a house on the Normandy coast. There should be little to distract him from his work besides walks on the windswept beach, but as he begins to tell the tale of forty-something Louis who, after dispatching his own mother, goes on to relieve others of their burdensome elderly relations events in his own life begin to overlap with the work of his imagination.

From the acclaimed author of The Foundling Boy, The Great and the Good is a 1950s American classic about a tranformative journey by sea.

'Slyly funny, yet still touching' The Sunday Times

Arthur Morgan is aboard the Queen Mary bound for the United States, where a scholarship at an Ivy League university awaits him, along with the promise of a glittering future.

But the few days spent on the ship will have a defining effect on the young Frenchman, when he encounters the love of his life. 

A widow’s quiet retirement in the foothills of the Alps is turned upside down by the arrival of a mysterious stranger in this classic noir by the 'slyly funny' [Sunday Times] Pascal Garnier. 

'Rarely has noir been so much fun.' Crime Review 

Recently widowed grandmother Éliette is returning to her home in the mountains when her micro-car breaks down. A stranger comes to her aid on foot. Éliette offers him a lift, glad of the interruption to her humdrum routine. That night, her neighbours' son is killed in a road accident. Could the tragedy be linked to the arrival of her good Samaritan?

Described as 'Parisian perfection' by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, The Red Notebook is a charming, quirky love story from one of the UK's favourite French authors.

'The very quintessence of French romance' The Times

'Soaked in Parisian atmosphere, this lovely, clever, funny novel will have you rushing to the Eurostar post-haste. . . . the perfect French holiday read' Daily Mail  

Bookseller Laurent Letellier comes across an abandoned handbag on a Parisian street, and feels impelled to return it to its owner. The bag contains no money, phone or contact information. But a small red notebook with handwritten thoughts and jottings reveals a person that Laurent would very much like to meet. Without even a name to go on, and only a few of her possessions to help him, how is he to find one woman in a city of millions?

Award winning author Yasmina Khadra gives us a stunning panorama of life in Algeria between the two world wars.

'A writer who can understand man wherever he is' The New York Times 

Even as a child living hand-to-mouth in a ghetto, Turambo dreamt of a better future. So when his family find a decent home in the city of Oran anything seems possible. But colonial Algeria is no place to be ambitious for those of Arab-Berber ethnicity. Through a succession of menial jobs, the constants for Turambo are his rage at the injustice surrounding him, and a reliable left hook. This last opens the door to a boxing apprenticeship, which will ultimately offer Turambo a choice: to take his chance at sporting greatness or choose a simpler life beside the woman he loves.