(Paris) The French writer Daniel Pennac will put an end to the successful series of Malaussène, by publishing the last novel of the saga, announced Wednesday the Gallimard editions.
Malaussene Terminus should be published on January 5, according to the back-to-school program of this publisher.
“The Malaussène series forms a unique fresco, which has brought together in France and in various countries a huge community of enthusiastic readers, around the tender and crazy adventures of the uncontrollable tribe”, recalled Gallimard.
These novels have been translated into more than twenty languages and sold more than five million copies worldwide.
“Daniel Pennac has chosen to offer his readers a hilarious apocalyptic finale that will be remembered,” added Gallimard.
The series currently has seven novels. After To the happiness of the ogres in 1985, five episodes had followed until 1999. Then a sixth in 2017, The Malaussene case, volume 1: They lied to me.
In 2020, Daniel Pennac announced a volume 2. Gallimard simplified the title of this last volume, whose protagonist is Georges Lapietà, a crooked businessman already at work in the previous episode.
The saga started with a rather banal character, a modern scapegoat, Benjamin Malaussène, an employee of a department store who receives complaints from customers.
Daniel Pennac has invented an eternally pregnant mother, six brothers and sisters from different fathers, and a gallery of characters, each more eccentric than the next, who live in the working-class districts of Paris. All against a backdrop of wacky police intrigue, which mocks the codes of thriller.