Gregoire Delacourt — We Only Saw Happiness

Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2016 Hardback, 320pp. Antoine's parents fell in love at first sight. But they quickly realised that true love means more than furtive glances. Married too young, and with three small children, Antoine's mother retreats into a world of Sagan novels and cigarette smoke, abandoning the family when Antoine's sister dies. He grows up with a distant father, his only respite the tenderness he shares with his surviving sister. Then Antoine meets Natalie, the woman of his dreams. They have two children and Antoine thrives in his work for an insurance company, investigating claims to reduce his firm's pay-outs. But soon Natalie drifts away from him, beginning an affair, and Antoine loses his job when he lets his heart overrule his head. Driven to despair, he does something unspeakable. Antoine's journey to come to terms with the terrible thing he has done will take him across seas and continents, deep into his own heart and the hearts of others, as he is forced to question what a life is really worth. Ex library. Pages lightly tanned. Some slight wear on spine. (ISBN: 9781474600040). Good.