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*FROM THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF LULLABY, AND TRANSLATED BY SAM TAYLOR*
‘A revelation – I have never felt more seen by a book, nor have I been so gripped’ KATY HESSEL
‘An engaging meditation’ DAILY TELEGRAPH
In 2019, Leïla Slimani was commissioned by her editor to spend a sleepless night alone in a museum and to document the experience. Here, we find her grappling with the thoughts and ideas that emerge from her solitude as she walks the halls of the Punta della Dogana in Venice, interrogating her life as a woman, a writer and a daughter. In a space where old meets new, she beholds her past and present; surrounded by art, she explores what it means to behold and clasp beauty; enveloped by night, she confronts the meaning of life and death.
‘A revelation – I have never felt more seen by a book, nor have I been so gripped’ KATY HESSEL
‘An engaging meditation’ DAILY TELEGRAPH
In 2019, Leïla Slimani was commissioned by her editor to spend a sleepless night alone in a museum and to document the experience. Here, we find her grappling with the thoughts and ideas that emerge from her solitude as she walks the halls of the Punta della Dogana in Venice, interrogating her life as a woman, a writer and a daughter. In a space where old meets new, she beholds her past and present; surrounded by art, she explores what it means to behold and clasp beauty; enveloped by night, she confronts the meaning of life and death.
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Reviews
Slimani's The Scent of Flowers at Night is a revelation - I have never felt more seen by a book, nor have I been so gripped. In such elegant and readable prose, she captures the obsession and joys of writing, and the power of art and words
An utterly compelling exploration of memory, art-making and solitude: what it takes, what it costs, to be a daughter, a woman, who writes. I couldn't put it down.
An engaging meditation on literature, death, deracination and tourism
Mesmerising. I inhaled this writer's poetic meditation on time and the creative process
Heartwarming and sad...accessible and endearing...frank and honest...humorous and affirming
Vivid and capable of transporting the reader