I am currently reading La fille de la nuit by Serge Brussolo. As the title suggests, the novel is in French. French is “my other language” but as I don’t find many opportunities to speak it these days, I read a lot in the language, both as a compensation and to keep me up to date with contemporary idioms and ideas.

The title, literally “The girl of the night”, suggests that the central character is, or was, a prostitute or, in the language of Los Angeles where the plot is centred, a hooker. The truth, it turns out is far more bizarre. I will not give away the plot because at least one of Brussolo’s novels has already been translated into English (as The deep sea diver’s syndrome) and others (including this one) will no doubt follow. It is enough to say that the central character, known by the hospital applied temporary name of Jane Doe, survives an assassination attempt but this damages her brain, leading to total amnesia about her past. Against all the odds, however, this past begins to return to haunt her in vivid dreams and episodes of somnambulism.

Brussolo is sometime classed as a writer of science fiction and fantasy or, as it was expressed in a piece in France Culture, “Serge Brussolo est un genre littéraire à lui tout seul” (“Serge Brussolo is a literary genre unique to himself”). Though this is the only book of his that I have read so far (I picked it out at random in the local public library), I would agree. One more thing needs to be said, however, and that is that no matter how weird the story becomes, it is completely believable under Brussolo’s fluent pen.

With regard to book reviews, I usually behave sensibly and commit my opinion to writing only after finishing the book. In this case, however, the narrative has me so intrigued that even though I am only a little over halfway through, I could not resist penning these few words over breakfast this morning. At least that way, there is no chance of my spoiling the ending for you!