Karen Sullivan, Publisher of Orenda Books, is delighted to announce the acquisition of World English Language rights for French author Anne Sénès’s profoundly original, lyrical novel Double Room (Chambre Double) from Carla Briner at Pontas Agency in a two-book Frankfurt pre-empt.
Karen says, ‘Double Room is an extraordinarily beautiful book, with echoes of Laura Kasischke and Kazuo Ishiguro, set between Paris and London, and across two time periods. The novel is narrated by Stan, a French composer living in England, and his world is experienced through the scents, sounds and colours that music creates for him. He embarks on one of the most exquisitely drawn love stories I’ve ever read, with Liv, a Londoner, who becomes the love of his life. Their duo soon becomes a trio, with the birth of their daughter Lisa.
‘When a tragic accident occurs, Stan returns to France surrounded by
darkness, no longer able to compose, and living in the Burrow, a home left to
him by an aunt. He shares his life with Babette, a lifeguard and mother of a
boy of Lisa’s age, and Laïvely, an AI machine endowed with Liv’s voice, which he spent entire nights building after her death. But Stan remains haunted by his past. As the silence gradually gives way to noises, sometimes even a burst of laughter, and Laïvely seems to take on a life of its own, memories and reality fade and blur, and Stan’s new family implodes…
‘Mysterious, complex, exquisitely written, this is an unusual, profound, sensorily vivid novel, with a great emotional force. The juxtaposition of this strange AI creation, which interrupts, sighs and even whistles, with Stan’s memories of Liv and their deep love, and his deepening sense of disconnection, his cracking relationship, provides an unexpected tension and an almost overwhelming pathos. There is always one book that sticks in your mind after a busy book fair, and Double Room is that book for me. This is something very, very special.’
Anne says, ‘I’m so thrilled to be published by such a wonderful publishing house. Being translated into English is a dream come true.’
Carla says, ‘I couldn’t be more delighted that English readers will finally have the chance to discover Anne’s lyrical and original storytelling thanks to Karen, West, Alice and the brilliant and dedicated team at Orenda.’
Double Room will be translated by Alice Banks, and published in B-format paperback, with flaps, in June 2025 by Orenda Books, with a second book to come. For more information, please contact Karen@orendabooks.co.uk.
