Flore goes camping – Liberation

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Time.news “Why it works”

Book of Libédossier

The French author, communicator converted into the best seller, lands in New Zealand.

In the category of heavyweight authors of the feel-good book, to each his credo. Raphaëlle Giordano, popcorn and butterflies, she’s the one “who inspires you” (et “your heart is popping”, says the poster in the subway). Virginie Grimaldi is the one who makes jokes and gives you a little boost (It is high time to rekindle the stars). Aurélie Valognes is the one who sketches the family with her outdated expressions (In the car Simone!, Granny in the nettles…). As for Mélissa Da Costa, 32, a communicator converted into the bestseller, five books behind her, she is the adventurer (we travel) and the champion of resilience (we move forward, we forgive). It is also the one that topped all the others at the post in 2022, placing itself in the third step of the biggest sellers in France (behind Guillaume Musso and Joël Dicker) with 844,547 copies sold according to the GfK institute (which currently makes she is the most purchased author in France). It continues in 2023, with two titles in the top pockets – the phantom pains (first) and All the blue of the sky (seventh) – and a novelty in that of large formats, the women of the end of the world, which takes us far, very far, once past the loaded cover (sunset + stars in the sky + golden typo).

Where is the end of the world?

Leaving France, it’s at the southern tip of New Zealand, where Flore, a washed-up 27-year-old Parisian, ends up with sea lions and seals. The young woman leaves behind a messy marriage and is in great need of rebuilding herself. She is welcomed by Autumn and her daughter Millie, managers of the Mutunga o te ao campsite, “which means in Maori “end of the world””. Once you’re there, you stay there, because everything is there: work to clear your head, the sea to swim in, evenings on the beach to listen to (Maori) legends, and especially new people to to like.

Who has a mole?

We will have to find the strength to excuse this sentence that looks like an exquisite corpse on page 11: “His square jawline gives him a robust appearance, however offset by this mole on the cheek, at the edge of his left nostril, which reveals a certain latent femininity.” Excuse it all the more since afterwards we pleasantly follow the budding friendship between Flore the fugitive and Millie the local, between daily life on the spot (successful) and Parisian flashbacks (a little less successful). On page 189, the two girlfriends frankly get on better and better: “When Flore slips a daisy into her hair, Milly feels like the first man on earth discovering the first woman.” Page 217, Milly drops a bombshell (spoiler alert): “I could love you like a man.” And Flore’s response (watch out big punchline): “Especially not. I prefer that you love me like a woman!” Yes, everyone is warming up. Even the taciturn Autumn experiences a late spring with a neighbor. We are no longer afraid of anything, not even of a scene swimming with dolphins.

What “passes for words” ?

“The essential.”

Melissa Da Costa, Women from around the world. Albin Michel, 384 pp., 21,90 € (ebook : 14,99 €).

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