“It’s not just about the insulting coldness of the mother or the outrageous good nature of the father; something is wrong,” says Dana, a 26-year-old Frenchwoman of Kabyle origin, a few moments after her arrival in the decrepit family mansion of her future in-laws, the Paternosters, in the marshy region of Dombes, where she must pass. all summer with her lover, Basil, who suddenly became an expert in the art of cognitive diversion (gaslighting). Third novel by Julia Richard (MeatHSN, 2020), Paternoster depicts a model of toxic relationship that is repeated from generation to generation, where the heroine, under the influence of a narcissistic pervert, will have to choose between the social ladder or her own freedom. Skillfully borrowing from the codes of the Gothic novel and folk horror, armed with a lively pen and a vitriolic humor, the author denounces with a bang the traditional shackles that the patriarchy wants to impose slyly on women, from the proudest to the most destitute.
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