A tender and witty coming-of-age story about the power of literature to inspire new beginnings, peppered with a cast of quirky characters and a unique heroine.

Clara is a hairdresser at Cindy Coiffure, a sleepy French salon with an identity crisis. Her relationship is fizzling out. Her tanoholic boss Madame Habib worships Jacques Chirac and talks longingly of her days in Paris. The highlight of the week was when the dishy technician came to repair the display cabinet. And now Madame Levy-Leroyer wants to go blonde. Clara can't help but wonder if there's more to life . . .

Everything changes when a customer leaves behind the first volume of In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. As Clara reads, she discovers a whole new world, leading her to strike up an unexpected friendship. And slowly but surely, she will work out who she wants to be.

• ADVERTISING: boosted social/Amazon ads around publication to drive orders, advertising in France-Amerique
• REVIEW: reviews, excerpts, author interviews, and byliners in national book media, eg Book Riot, LitHub, Publishers Weekly the Washington Post, and NPR
• ONLINE: cover reveal, social media campaign, outreach to instagrammers, tiktokers, and bloggers in both the bookish and the Francophile spaces
• BOOK CLUB OUTREACH: book club kit including playlist, recipes, discussion questions
• PROMOTION: DRC via Edelweiss and hard copy ARC will be available; giveaways on Storygraph and Goodreads

About the Author
Stephane Carlier was born in 1971 in Argenteuil, France. Clara Reads Proust is his eighth novel and the first to be translated into English.

Polly Mackintosh is an editor and a translator from French. She has translated the work of Alain Ducasse, Antoine Laurain and early French feminist Marie-Louise Gagneur, amongst others. She currently lives in London.

Reviews
'A sumptuous homage to reading in which the writer deftly depicts provincial life with humour and affection' Le Parisien

'An enchanting, thoroughly human story about the power of literature' L'Obs

'In Carlier's hands seriousness lacks pompousness and humour provides a trusty defence against melancholia' Le Figaro

'A book that will do you the world of good' Livres Hebdo

Book Information
ISBN 9781913547738
Author Stephane Carlier
Format Paperback
Page Count 192
Imprint Gallic Books
Publisher Gallic Books