The sharp and funny unravelling of a contemporary, and diabolically constructed, huis-clos.
The Simart-Duteils have it all: well-groomed children, preppy parents, a flamboyant ancestor, a beautiful house, a plastic surgery clinic and membership to the most prestigious sports club in the capital. Yet this privileged family finds itself plastered over the front pages of the news when it locks itself in its manor house, brings down the shutters, and refuses to leave. What happened?
Kinga Wyrzykowska’s debut novel plunges into the year that preceded the voluntary reclusion of the nine members of the Simart-Duteil clan, revealing the intimate flaws behind their glossy public face. And when a half-brother, born from the secret union of the dead patriarch, a motorway tycoon in the Middle East, and a Syrian woman, shows up to claim his share of the inheritance, the façade cracks. Paul, whose fame as a political influencer is beginning to explode, decides to take the salvation of his clan into his own hands. A struggle for the survival of the family unit begins. And no matter how much the ’outsider’ shows his face ... he is not welcome.
From the omnipresence of social networks to the reception of migrants, not to mention conspiracy theories, Patte blanche depicts our world in the grip of the virtual. An acidic, sometimes cruel comedy that reveals, in a burst of laughter, the pretenses, fears and fantasies of the present day.
