Where we find Nouk, Geneviève Brisac’s heroine, confronted with the abuse suffered by women from their superiors in the corporate world. A novel both scathing and poetic on the explosive mixture of sex and power. And on the disillusionment, anger and—very often—melancholy that it brings.
What’s the difference between running a publishing house and running a harem? Nouk finds out the hard way. Because he noticed her graceful figure on a beach, the great Olaf decides to hire her. He likes her vivacity, her vitality, and her rebellious spirit, but he throws her to his henchmen without the slightest hesitation to punish her for her unruliness. Later, Nouk falls under the spell of Werther. This seducer is also a mentor. If he offers her a job, he also gives her his protection. The attachment is mutual. Until the moment when, on the occasion of a change of direction, Werther abandons her and becomes the traitor that he has been all along. For the second time, Nouk is fired. What has she done to deserve such treatment? Maybe it’s time to ask the question. Nouk the idealist, the activist who distributed leaflets in 68 before joining the women’s movement, is unable to accept what goes against her former fights and hopes for a better world. She cannot hide who she really is. She is singled out, judged, but she will not submit. She does not comply.
