A debut novel from French-speaking Switzerland confronts a father's grip
In her first book, Lou van Nijen writes about an overbearing father through the eyes of a young woman named Léocadie.
"Il n'est plus le bienvenu ici" — he is no longer welcome here — a café manager tells Léocadie, according to Le Courrier. The unwelcome man is her father, described as abusive toward staff. That scene opens Le Lit au roi, the first novel by young Romande writer Lou van Nijen.
According to the Swiss daily, the book is an attempt by van Nijen to make sense of her own relationship to an intrusive, controlling father, using the character of Léocadie to work through that grip from the inside.
Le Courrier presents Le Lit au roi as a noted debut, though the available material does not give further details on its publisher, length or release date.
Sources
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