Volume 2 (Volume 2): Boxes / The Front Seat Passenger / the Islanders / Moon in a Dead Eye (Gallic Noirs) - Softcover

Garnier, Pascal

 
9781910477595: Volume 2 (Volume 2): Boxes / The Front Seat Passenger / the Islanders / Moon in a Dead Eye (Gallic Noirs)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 1910477591 ISBN 13: 9781910477595
Verlag: Gallic Books, 2018

Inhaltsangabe

Written over a 15-year period from the mid '90s, Garnier's short novels weave a profound and darkly comic tapestry of human experience. Volume 2 includes Boxes, which tells the story of Brice, `the sole survivor of the natural disaster that at one time or another strikes us all, known as `moving house''; The Front Seat Passenger, in which a widower discovers his wife had a lover and decides to track down his widow; The Islanders, whose protagonist Olivier finds himself thrown back together with a childhood friend with whom he shares a dark secret; and Moon in a Dead Eye, in which the paranoia of the residents of a gated retirement village spins out of control.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Pascal Garnier, who died in 2010, was a prolific author of books for adults and children, and a painter.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

MOON IN A DEAD EYE: CHAPTER 1LES CONVIVIALES:THE RETIREMENT VILLAGE EXPERTSLes Conviviales offers a fresh approach to retirement, allowing you tospend an active life in the sunshine. Here’s a taste of what you’ll findat Les Conviviales:A SECURE GATED COMMUNITYThere’s nothing quite like knowing you’re protected and secure. Witha dedicated caretaker-manager on site 365 days of the year, ourresidents can enjoy total peace of mind.Martial compared the photo on the cover of the brochure withthe view from the window. It was raining. It had rained almostevery day for the past month. A slick of water shone on theRoman-tiled roofs of the identikit ochre pebbledash bungalows,each fronted by a matching patch of Astroturf-green lawn. Atthis time of year, the regimented rows of broom-like shrubsprovided neither leaves, nor flowers, nor shade. All the shutterswere closed. The fifty or so little houses were lined up obedientlyon either side of a wide road, with gravel paths leading off toeach home. Viewed from the air, it must have looked somethinglike a fish skeleton.HOMES BUILT FOR YOUR COMFORTOur single-storey houses are designed with accessibility in mind.Each comes with a sun deck, patio garden, fully equipped kitchen,ergonomically designed bathroom, two stunning bedrooms …Aside from a few family heirlooms that had still not found theirplace, Odette had seized the opportunity to furnish the housewith a whole new set of furniture which, by accident or design,bore a curious resemblance to the contents of the show homethey had looked around a few months earlier. Martial could notget used to it. Everything had that box-fresh, plastic smell. Fairenough, it was practical, everything worked as it should, but itwas like living in a hotel. Odette, meanwhile, was colonising theplace with missionary zeal. She could not go into town withoutbringing some useful or decorative object back with her: a bathmat, a vase, a toilet-roll holder, a hideous black and yellowceramic cicada … The only territory she had conceded to himwas a corner of the cellar for his workbench and tools. This waswhere he had spent most of his time since the move, workingunder the lamp sorting screws, nails and bolts by size and storingthem in little boxes, which he labelled and stacked on shelves. Itwas a monotonous task, but he found it soothing.THE CLUBHOUSEThe clubhouse provides a place to get together and take part in allkinds of activities. It’s where everyone meets to chat, play chess, surfthe internet, have a game of snooker, enjoy a cuppa, make pancakes… Our friendly and helpful social secretary puts on competitions,walks, day trips, visits to local places of interest and eveningentertainment.For the moment, it was closed, and they had not yet met nor evencaught sight of the social secretary. Not that Martial was overlyconcerned. In fact, he was somewhat dreading the opening ofthe clubhouse. He had no desire to take part in pancake-tossingcompetitions with people he didn’t know.SOLAR-HEATED SWIMMING POOLTake a refreshing dip in the pool. What better way to relax whilekeeping fit?The pool was empty. A few centimetres of rainwater stagnatedon the bottom.YEAR-ROUND SUNSHINEAll our villages are located in the south of France to make the mostof …‘As if!’The catalogue landed with a dull thud on the smoked-glasscoffee table, whose gilded feet were shaped like lion paws.Martial locked his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.Suresnes, the Parisian suburb they had called home for morethan twenty years, now seemed like a lost paradise. All thoseyears spent doggedly accumulating a thousand little habits fromwhich to spin a cosy cocoon of existence, on first-name termswith the newsagent, butcher and baker, going to the market ona Saturday morning and taking the Sunday stroll up to MontValérien … Then, one by one, their neighbours had retired to theLoire valley, Brittany, Cannes … or the cemetery. The area hadchanged almost overnight, before they had a chance to notice. Adifferent demographic. Where once peace and quiet had reigned,now screaming children ruled the roost. After months of puttingup with Odette nagging him about moving to a gated, sunsoakedretirement village, he gave in. They went to look aroundthe show home in early September. The weather was glorious.‘Just think, Martial, it’ll be like being on holiday every day ofthe year!’Monsieur Dacapo, the estate agent, had plenty of charm andthe gift of the gab. Martial and Odette exactly fitted the ownerprofile the property company was seeking. Both were retiredprofessionals with a suitable monthly income. The sale of theirhouse in Suresnes would provide a more than adequate deposit.They had no dependants and no pets. Monsieur Dacapo hadsmoothly reeled off all the retirement community’s advantages:security, above all, with intruder-proof fences and strategicallylocated CCTV cameras, and of course the caretaker-manager,whom he made sound like a cross between a bodyguard and aguardian angel. Work on the site was not yet complete but theirhome would be ready to welcome them in December. Of course,they could go away and think about it, but they shouldn’t taketoo long to do it. A thousand visitors had been expected at anopen weekend for a similar village the previous year, but in theevent three thousand had turned up!The deal had been wrapped up in the space of a month duringwhich Martial felt he was going about his life under hypnosis,signing papers he had not even read, carried along by Odette’sgushing enthusiasm.

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Verlag
Gallic Books
Erscheinungsdatum
2018
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
1910477591
ISBN 13 
9781910477595
Einband
Tapa blanda
Anzahl der Seiten
400
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Verantwortliche Person
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