A debut novel set in a Shanghai taxi at dawn
Ada Walter introduces her first novel, "Shanghai, cinq heures quarante," on France Culture, a melancholic story following a businessman's drifting thoughts during a nighttime ride across the city.
Ada Walter presented her debut novel, "Shanghai, cinq heures quarante," on France Culture on September 12, first on the program "Les Matins d'après" and again on "Les Artistes de demain," according to the broadcaster's own listings.
According to France Culture, the novel follows a businessman crossing Shanghai by taxi as his thoughts wander between the city's shifting landscapes, the memory of a love lost ten years earlier, and a pervasive solitude. The broadcaster describes the book as melancholic, framing it as a portrait built from a single, extended journey through the city at an early hour.
The same morning slot on France Culture also touched on milk proteins made without animals, presented by Hélène Briand, and a discussion on space as a terrain for humanity's future with aerospace engineer Eric Dautriat and law professor Philippe Achilleas — unrelated segments sharing the same broadcast.
No publisher, release date, or further biographical detail on Ada Walter was provided in the material available.
Sources
This article was written from these reports.
