First published in French as L’Échappée belle, Anna Gavalda’s Breaking Away is indeed a beautiful escape. Short, yet prefectly formed, it’s more of a novella at 142 pages of charming prose translated into English by Alison Anderson.
Whilst the plot is simple, a car journey to a wedding, the relationships between siblings are at the core of the story. Two sisters, two brothers and a sister-in-law who is undoubtedly the outsider, most readers will relate to the characters in some way and it’s a lovely slice of family life. It’s witty and hits the nail firmly on the head. A top notch summer read, especially if you’ve not got much time to spare!
I will certainly be looking up more of Anna Gavalda’s work in future. Thank you to Gallic Books for providing me with a copy to review.
Buy the paperback | Kindle edition on amazon.co.uk
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This sounds good. I'm one of 7 children so I know all about siblings lol!
I sounds like that quote you chose hits the theme of the book right on the head.
Looking forward to more French-themed posts from you this month!
Sounds lovely! I have a book by Anna Gavalda (actually, I think it's a bind-up of two of her books), but I haven't got round to reading it yet… Maybe now is the time! 🙂
Oh, too funny. I just looked…that's the Anna Gavalda that I borrowed from the library, except in the Europa edition it's called French Leave. I thought your synopsis sounded familiar! Probably won't read it for another week or so, but I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed it.