book cover of The Margot Affair
 

The Margot Affair

(2020)
A novel by

 
 
A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE

The secret daughter of a French politician and a famous actress drops the startling revelation that will shatter her family in this beguiling debut novel of intrigue and betrayal.


NAMED ONE OF SUMMER’S BEST BOOKS BY The Skimm • Marie ClaireLitHubSubway Book Review • Paperback Paris

Margot Louve is a secret: the child of a longstanding affair between an influential French politician with presidential ambitions and a prominent stage actress. This hidden family exists in stolen moments in a small Parisian apartment on the Left Bank.

It is a house of cards that Margot—fueled by a longing to be seen and heard—decides to tumble. The summer of her seventeenth birthday, she meets the man who will set her plan in motion: a well-regarded journalist whose trust seems surprisingly easy to gain. But as Margot is drawn into an adult world she struggles to comprehend, she learns how one impulsive decision can threaten a family’s love with ruin, shattering the lives of those around her in ways she could never have imagined.

Exposing the seams between private lives and public faces, The Margot Affair is a novel of deceit, desire, and transgression—and the exhilarating knife-edge upon which the danger of telling the truth outweighs the cost of keeping secrets.


Genre: Mystery

Praise for this book

"A brave portrayal of love in all of its complexities." - Jessica Andrews

"Astonishing . . . Sanaë Lemoine is fearless and almost unbearably tender in her exploration of all the ways we both exalt and wound one another." - Stacey D'Erasmo

"Powerful and affecting . . . truly exceptional." - Rivka Galchen

"Poised, coolly beguiling, and deeply compelling, Lemoine’s debut casts a powerful spell." - Hermione Hoby

"A stunning debut, simmering with tension and sensuality. This jewel of a novel examines the in-between spaces in life. . . . A mesmerizing story by an important new voice." - Crystal Hana Kim

"A deeply immersive novel about the ways in which your family may fail you . . . Written in graceful prose carrying clairvoyant insights, its wisdom stayed with me." - Ling Ma

"An extraordinary, gorgeous novel . . . With exquisite precision and insight, The Margot Affair builds to an unexpected heat." - Idra Novey


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