Lydia Davis

"The Rendezvous" is a beautiful and evocative first novel that blurs all lines between memoir and fiction. In a painfully sentimental journey, Louise, a sophisticated eighteen-year-old Parisian student, sits in a cafe awaiting the arrival of her long-absent mother, an aging hippie and former fashion model. As the hours pass and Louise waits, she reaches deeper and deeper into her store of memory, recalling the early failure of her parents' marriage. Louise remembers how brief and unfulfilling meetings with her mother have punctuated her safe and secure life with her father, a world-renowned conductor. Carefully walking the balance between anticipation and fear, Louise meditates upon the chaos of her mother's life, a life of decadence, drugs, and irresponsibility. Coming face-to-face with the powerful love she feels for her mother, Louise wryly acknowledges the complexity of a relationship filled with countless letdowns and unwavering devotion. Written with a wisdom that transcends age and the wit and savvy of a true survivor, "The Rendezvous" is a poignant examination of the transition to young adulthood and the often startling awareness of a parent's fallibility.

This book gathers French writer Michel Butor's essays on his travel in the Mediterranean. Included are pieces on Cordova, Istanbul, Salonica, Delphi, Crete, and northern Italy, as well as an extended essay on Egypt—where, when he was 24, Butor spent a year teaching French in a secondary school. Michel Butor is one of the leading exponents of the avant-garde writing that emerged in France in the 1950s.

Set in Switzerland during the early twentieth century, The Desert World focuses on the troubled relationships uniting three remarkable characters: Jacques de Todi, the homosexual son of a pastor; Luc Pascal, a French poet; and Baladine Nikolaievna, a mysterious and fascinating Russian woman involved with them both.