‘A revelation’ KATY HESSEL
‘Brilliant’ OBSERVER
Over one night, alone in the Punta della Dogana Museum in Venice, Leïla Slimani grapples with the self as it is revealed in solitude. In a place of old and new, she confronts her past and her present, through her life as a Moroccan woman, as a writer, and as a daughter. Surrounded by art, she explores what it means to behold and clasp beauty; enveloped by night, she confronts the meaning of life and death.
Translated from the French by Sam Taylor
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Reviews
An utterly compelling exploration of memory, art-making and solitude: what it takes, what it costs, to be a daughter, a woman, who writes. I couldn't put it down.
Slimani's The Scent of Flowers at Night is a revelation - I have never felt more seen by a book, nor have I been so gripped. In such elegant and readable prose, she captures the obsession and joys of writing, and the power of art and words
An engaging meditation on literature, death, deracination and tourism
Mesmerising. I inhaled this writer's poetic meditation on time and the creative process
Heartwarming and sad...accessible and endearing...frank and honest...humorous and affirming
Vivid and capable of transporting the reader