The great Norwegian authors master the art of transforming their personal life experiences into thrillers. Jo Nesbo is a former Economics Journalist. Annie Holt is a former Police Inspector and Lawyer, ex-Minister of Justice.
THE NORVEGIAN THRILLER OF THE YEAR IS FRENCH !
THE BOOK’S STRONG POINTS ■ Built-up from the best information sources,
this “page turner” captivates the reader like a powerful Nordic thriller. ■ All Eva Joly’s books are best-sellers,
and all books by Judith Perrignon are both literary and public successes. ■ An exceptional media launch event, the scope of Eva Joly’s fame.
LES ARÈNES, 27 RUE JACOB, 75006 PARIS, FRANCE www.arenes.fr
The Authors : Eva Joly et Judith Perrignon The Title : Les Yeux de Lira Number of pages : 350 Format : 145 x 220 mm Department in which to display the book : Thriller ISBN : 978-2-35204-150-4 Sodis Code : 724-404-9 Price : ¤ 21 Run : 30 000 copies Release Date : 6th May 2011 World rights available
Foreign rights : Jean-Baptiste Bourrat +33 (0) 142 174 785
[email protected] with Catherine Farin +33 (0) 142 174 652
[email protected]
4 BOOKS, 4 BESTSELLERS from 35 000 to 155 000 copies (except for paperbacks and clubs) on each release !
T H E
A U T H O R S
EVA JOLY
T H E
B O O K
THE PLOT
Do you associate yourself with Norwegian thrillers ? In my home country, thrillers are second nature. Novels by Nesbo, Holt, Staalesen or Edwardson were true life companions to me. The strength of Norwegian authors lies in that they incarnate the shock between moral values and a disturbed world. While entrusted with a mission in Iceland, following the great banking crisis, all I had to do was read the books by Idriasson to understand this country. This is worth every initiation ! Where does the desire to write a thriller come from ? For the past ten years, I have constantly been encountering unimaginable destinies that tell me stories of great violence on the state of the world. I gathered many pieces of information on the hidden face of globalization and financial crime. Sometimes I feel like I am living in two different dimensions at the same time: what I know, and what I hear. Only fiction can portray such a shock. Meeting Judith Perrignon catalysed my longing for thrillers. How did you work ? We spent a lot of time together, like movie scriptwriters do. Characters emerged along the course of encounters. Judith wrote. She would send me pages as she was writing them. I helped her with all the practical points; one does not invent a financial network or the climate of a perquisition. Judith gave life to our characters, she inhabited this book with her fantastic style.
So, politics or novels? I am a candidate to represent Europe Ecologie/Les Verts (French Green in the EP) at the Presidential Elections. This is my public engagement. This book is a personal adventure. It was born out of necessity. Judith Perrignon’s talent brings our characters to life beyond my expectations. I take the risk of publishing it while in full political campaign flight, because this is my strongest book yet.
The most famous Norwegian woman in France
A STUNNING DUET Eva Joly and Judith Perrignon have been working for the past two years on this captivating thriller. Their novel associates a perfect grasp of financial networks with the dark sides of power and criminal investigations, with unforgettable atmospheres in the Faroe Islands, at the Nice Courthouse or again the Quai d’Orsay (France).
Born in Norway, Eva Joly, 67, became French through marriage. She was the most famous French judge (cases such as Tapie, Dumas and Elf) before becoming European Deputy on the Europe Ecologie list. Chair of the European Parliament Development Committee, she runs for the primary election of Europe Ecologie/Les Verts (French Green in the EP), as part of the 2012 Presidential Elections. A Renowned Author Former journalist at Libération, laureate of the Louis Hachette Prize 2011 for one of her reportages published in the magazine XXI, Judith Perrignon is the author of many successful literary works, notably C’était mon frère (15 000 copies) and L’intranquille (35 000 copies) by L’iconoclaste, La nuit du Fouquet’s with Ariane Chemin (50 000 copies by Fayard). Her first novel, Les Chagrins, has just been published by Stock to critical acclaim.
The plot takes us to five different countries : the Faroe Islands, Russia, England, Nigeria and France
THE FAROE ISLANDS where skippers throw themselves into orgiastic dolphin hunts. The island’s wealthiest founded the money laundering Grind Bank for Russian and Nigerian assets; it turns out to be a complete fiasco.
A HAMLET IN THE CEVENNES, voluntarily cut off from everything: no electricity, no landline, no television, no cell phone.
THE LAGOS DOCKS, where Nigerian spammers juggle with mirror sites, constantly changing hideouts and containers. THE TRIBUNAL DE NICE, with its crafty hierarchy, its office gossip, its “cold feet” judges.
VERSAILLES’ GALERIE DES GLACES, where oligarch Louchky’s great gala dinner is being prepared: a party of 500, including the greatest fortunes in the world and the French President.
THE LONDON FINANCIAL SQUAD, its interrogation rooms with one-way mirror walls, and Britain’s Prime Minister speaking on the interests of The City.
JUDITH PERRIGNON 15 000 copies
35 000 copies
50 000 copies
How does one write a thriller ? You must catch the reader’s attention with a storyline, bring characters to life through their actions and gestures as much as via their feelings. But once the pace is set, it is always the same process; writing takes you well beyond what you had initially planned, the characters overcome you, they search deep inside you. I laughed, I cried, I gritted my teeth while writing. What were your inspiration sources ? I drew a lot from my relationship with Eva Joly. She would tell me incredible stories about incredible people. She opened my eyes, telling me how injustice can happen and also how to fight it. Our thriller was born at this point. Eva taught me things that my life as a journalist would never have allowed me to see. I very much like her look upon the world, her expressions, there is something so feminine in the way she moves forward, always.
A journalist at Libération, a “birthgiver” for Eva Joly and painter Gérard Garouste, a novelist with Les Chagrins… is the thriller genre a new string to your bow ? I tied all these strings together. I had to remain a journalist still, seek documentation to be able to describe the Port of Lagos, fishing in the Faroe Islands or such and such banking mechanism, as well as remember certain events seen or heard in the higher reaches of government. I had to become our characters. What does this thriller reveal on the state of the world ? Behind the apparent chaos and financial sophistication, power relationships are simple and brutal. Powers shifted. States let themselves be bought. The duties of our three heroes are modest – a clerk, a journalist and a policeman. At one given moment, they must step outside the system to fight, no democratic wheel can turn anymore, they find themselves swallowed up into engagement. They become the actors of an extraordinary story, yet one full of sacrifice.
THE QUAI D’ORSAY, its secret services networks, organizations and homosexual solidarity.
THE CHARACTERS
The unlikely combination of three magnificent characters makes up the heart of the novel
LIRA is a forty-year-old Russian journalist, divorced, with a twenty-year-old daughter. She is investigating a Russian oligarch, Louchky, and she is afraid. Victim of a vitriol attack by henchmen, she loses her eyesight, but not her courage. She is the leading character of the book.
NWANKWO is the leader of Nigeria’s financial squad. Fiftysomething, cultured, he is laden with remorse for the murder of his assistant. He was exfiltrated with his wife and children by the British Secret Services. He took refuge in London and pledged to cease all investigations. The irruption of Lira will make his life, and his family, explode.
FÉLIX is a very special young clerk from the Tribunal de Nice. Extremely bright, he chose to take a subaltern examination to be able to live his difference. A homosexual, his sense of humour is devastating. Destiny places him at the heart of a financial scandal in which dead bodies accumulate. His strategicallyplaced love relationships will both serve and endanger him.
