Fanny Britt has played on several scores: she made her talent heard in the theater, her essays gave a sensitive and committed voice to issues that we then heard little about, her children’s albums earned her prestigious prizes and numerous translations, while his novels, also award-winning, have been read by a wide audience. And yet, the writer had never written a novel for adolescents.
This is no longer true since it appears these days Hello, my hearta novel which, at the moment when September extends its colors to the trees, invites us to plunge back into the depths of summer. For the occasion, we meet Bernadette, 14 years old, as her school year ends. His world, then, still has one foot in early youth, starting with his secret romantic inclination for a friend from daycare. Likewise for this propensity to model his thought patterns on those of influential adults, like his choir director, Mr. Costas, who is wont to say that “what we do with our days is what we do.” we make our lives.”
However, this summer will be initiatory in many ways, as the protagonist and her great friend, Lina, foresee, who have “decreed that each summer month is worth six”. Another harbinger of upheavals? The rapid acceleration of his heartbeat during end-of-year choir. So much so that in the middle of Requiem of Mozart, Bernadette fears for her life: “ [Q]Someone is dying. Is it me? Mr Costas, is it me? » A fear that will never leave her.
A riotous summer
The installation of the story unfolds with finesse and we take pleasure, from the outset, in meeting well-defined characters. The author makes no compromise on the quality of her writing, lulling us with an inspired breath of mischievous humor and images with a strong evocative power. However, the best is yet to come.
With her parents, Bernadette returns to the family chalet in Kamouraska for the summer. The little pleasures of previous years revive good memories, but her mother, controlling and troubled by a mysterious event, leads the protagonist to move further and further to sea.
Bernadette’s flight then takes avenues that make us experience the palpitations, the hesitations and the daring of freedom. A first job introduced him to the restaurant industry, which fuels adrenaline and where solidarity proves inspiring. His daily life now revolves around friendships, with evenings that stretch according to parental permissions taken by force. So many new worlds for the young girl, supported by a soundtrack that reflects the impulse of her emotions. Only Bernadette’s heart resists, and one would believe that it wants to escape from her, always casting a heavy shadow.
In this skin-deep novel, the author’s talent is ageless, and our reading pleasure undoes the hours. Adolescence emancipates us, defines us, but it also leaves lasting traces. Hello, my heart is thus woven of these lines of life, of a panting breath and of all this white which makes up the page, where everything is still to be written, to be lived, to be felt.