Jean-François Dupont

Villa Wexler

September 2, 2021
Fiction
208 pages
150 × 200 mm
18 €
9782365331074
978-2-3653-3107-4
																Jean-François Dupont, Villa Wexler
																Jean-François Dupont, Villa Wexler

“Who really hung out with the Wexlers? Who lived with them? Who disappeared with them? Only Aurore knows more than I do, much more. But both of us were almost absorbed, even digested, by the unique organ that was this family.”

It’s the eve of the school year and the Wexler family settles in a remote villa, between hills and pines. The father, Richard, a charismatic high school teacher, fascinates those he meets, both adults and students. One of them, Mathias, 16, will spend a lot of time with this close-knit clan. There is Cheyenne, who spends his time on horseback. Karl, always with a rifle on his shoulder. And the beautiful, bewitching Charlotte, with whom he falls in love. Simultaneously, he begins to witness Richard’s much more troubling desire for their classmate Aurore. Little by little, the young girl falls under the control of this strange family...

Twenty years later, Mathias has left behind a flourishing professional life to go back to where he spent his adolescence. Ready to confront a past that has left a lasting impression on him, he starts by reconnecting with its characters: his own father, his former friend Aurore, and above all the memory of the poisonous Wexlers...

Villa Wexler is a very accurate portrayal of teenage psychology, served by a subtle and delicate writing.

The author

Jean-François Dupont was born in 1956 in Ambérieu-en-Bugey (France). After having taught literature and cinema on the banks of the Ain (French river), he now devotes his time to writing and traveling.

Strong points

A spellbinding, atmospheric novel about the cracks of the past and the fragility of adolescence.

Virgin Suicides meets American Beauty in a small, provincial French town.

A spellbinding, atmospheric novel, reminiscent of Patrick Modiano, Monica Sabolo or Laura Kasischke.

A toxic relationship between a teacher and his pupil told without voyeurism or crudity.

The portrait of a man who revisits an adolescence marked by a tragedy.

September 2, 2021
Fiction
208 pages
150 × 200 mm
18 €
9782365331074
978-2-3653-3107-4