I just closed it, and I still have chills…. I told you about a few months ago from the novel “Les Petites” by Nathalie Bianco. A novel which depicted 3 little girls living in a city of Villeurbanne, in the 60s. Well it seems that Nathalie Bianco tells women like no one else.
She offers us his new novel, “Les Printemps” Sixth editions. There too, they are 3. Three women that everything opposes. A young reality TV star, who has only one model in life, namely Kim Kardashian. A mother on the verge of burnout, twice divorced, who has to get by in life with tireless young twins, and a teenager most of the time recluse in her room. And Esther, an 86-year-old former teacher, whose children live on the other side of the world, and who lives in the memory of the unclouded love she shared with her late husband, Georges.
These 3 women have nothing in common. Really nothing. Besides, living in the same building, they hardly know each other. Except that, we are in the spring of 2020… and that containment begins which little by little will bring them closer, at the time of applause on their balcony spinning from a Parisian building.
They will observe each other, then exchange a few words, and finally, little by little, build a strong friendship… until the end. The superficial bimbo, recovering from buttock implants, the mother who lets herself go, not even hoping for better days, and the old lady suffering from loneliness.
Around these 3 women, not secondary characters, because all bring strength to the novel, but complementary. David, the autistic asperger caregiver who takes care of Esther. Damien, Céline’s ex-husband, overwhelmed doctor, who communicates by text message every day with Hugo, the teenager and their exchanges are very funny.
In short, we follow, day after day, the confined life of the characters, and frankly, on each of the pages, we go from bursts of laughter, to tears at the edge of the eyes. That’s the strength of Nathalie Bianco’s novels, laughter and tenderness. And basically, society and its failings, but also the resource of women who keep their heads above water in all circumstances.
Like me you will laugh out loud, like me you will wipe away a tear, like me you will find it difficult to leave Manava, Céline and Esther.