This heartwarming story is about two unlikely friends who give each other the courage to do what they never thought possible. Through their trials and tribulations, they realize that they can always rely on each other to be there.

Our story opens with Billie and Franck trapped in a gorge in the Cévennes Mountains. As Franck lies unconscious, Billie appeals to a star for protection by telling stories from their lives. Billie vividly recollects how her friendship with Franck changed her life and struggles with the idea that–thanks to her mistake–she might lose him forever.

They met a decade prior when they were assigned as acting partners in class. For the first time, Billie felt someone respected her and Franck didn’t feel so alone. The blossoming of their friendship was comforting for both pitted against the harsh realities they faced. Billie is tough because she has to be: her mother left her when she was just an infant and she lives in poverty with her abusive father and stepmother. Franck is more reserved, afraid to reveal who he really is to his unemployed homophobic father for fear of being rejected. Together Billie and Franck rescue each other.

These two outcasts find a home together in Anna Gavalda’s moving portrayal of platonic love and how far two people are willing to go for each other. Quirky, but gritty, this charming and emotional ode is for anyone who has felt the transformative power of friendship.

Anna Gavalda
Born in Paris in 1970, Anna Gavalda published her first work in 1999 while working as a high school French teacher. Her first published work was the critically acclaimed collection of short stories I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere, which sold over half a million copies in her native France and was published in the US by Penguin in 2003. Gavalda has since published three novels, all of which have become bestsellers across Europe. Her first novel, Someone I Loved, was adapted to film in 2009 and her novel Hunting and Gathering was made into a film starring Audrey Tatou and Daniel Auteil. Gavalda’s novels and short stories have been translated into over forty languages. She lives in Paris.

• Aug 23 2015
  Minneapolis Star Tribune: “The work is a testament to Gavalda’s fine storytelling skills, which remain true even in the books’ translation into English.”
  
• Aug 1 2015
  Heidi Lewis' "View from San Juan Library” in the San Juan Islander: “This novel is a testament to love, friendship, overcoming abuse and suffering, and the feelings associated with being an outcast.”