#BookReview #Ad Devils and Saints by Jean-Baptiste Andrea, translated by Sam Taylor @BelgraviaB

About the Book

An elderly man gives virtuoso piano performances in airports and train stations. To the incredulity of the passers-by, he refuses their offers to play in concert halls, or at prestigious gatherings. He is waiting for someone, he tells them.

Joseph was just sixteen when he was sent to a religious boarding school in the Pyrenees: les Confins, a dumping ground for waifs, strays, and other abandoned souls. His days were filled with routine and drudgery, and he thought longingly of the solace he found through music in his former life.

Joe dreams constantly of escape, but it seems impossible. That is, until a chance encounter with the orphanage’s benefactor leads him to Rose, and a plan begins to form…

Format: Paperback (233 pages)             Publisher: Gallic Books
Publication date: 12th December 2022 Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Literature in Translation

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My Review

I’m rarely disappointed by a book from Gallic Books – several of them vied for a place in my Books of the Year list. I also loved the author’s previous book A Hundred Million Years and a Day so I came to Devils and Saints with high expectations. I was not disappointed. It’s a quite wonderful story told with tenderness and insight. 

Left alone in the world following a tragic accident, Joseph arrives at Les Confins believing his stay will be only temporary. Sadly that is not to be. The event that left him an orphan took place on the day of the Apollo 11 Moon landing and Joseph comes to think of his position as like that of astronaut Michael Collins – ‘the one whose name everyone forgot’ – who flew the Apollo 11 command module and  ‘disappeared’ for forty-seven minutes during every orbit of the Moon.  ‘Forty-seven minutes when all communication was impossible. Forty-seven minutes of silence.’ 

I loved the way the author depicted the changing dynamics between Joseph and other boys at the orphanage: from initial hostility, to grudging acceptance into the secret society known as ‘The Lookout’ and finally to firm friendship. The individual characters of the boys are brilliantly observed. There’s Sinatra who’s convinced the truth about his origins will one day be confirmed, Weasel who is responsible for a clandestine trade in small luxuries, Edison, the genius whose brains will play a vital role, and Souzix, who is obsessed with finding out the ending of the film Mary Poppins.  And I defy anyone not to fall in love with Momo, silent for much of the book but whose eventual words may break your heart.  

In contrast, there are two distinctly less likeable characters: the fanatical priest in charge of  Les Confins, Father Sénac, whose eyes are like ‘a silver-grey blade’ and can ‘flush out sin’, and the orphanage supervisor, whom the boys have nicknamed ‘Toad’, whose speciality is devising particularly cruel punishments for minor misdemeanours. ‘Toad was a connoisseur of suffering: he liked it to be aged over many years, with a long finish, the kind of suffering he could sip from time to time, smacking his lips in delight.’ 

There’s a real air of Dickens’ Oliver Twist about the orphanage’s austere regime, with the daily routine of chores, lessons and prayers punctuated by whistle blasts. The place is permanently freezing and Joseph’s first dinner consists of a slice of toast covered with melted bone marrow and coarse salt. While he finds it as vile as it sounds, the other boys seem to regard it as haute cuisine.  

Although heartbreaking at times – I was on the brink of tears as the boys of The Lookout take part in a ‘sadness contest’ – there’s always a generous helping of humour. Wait until you get to the part with the encyclopedia and you’ll see what I mean.

Sam Taylor’s translation expertly showcases the author’s wonderful turns of phrase such as the description of the orphanage as smelling of ‘lessons learned and prayers never granted’.  

There’s so much more I could praise about this book – I haven’t even mentioned the way the relationship forms between Joseph and Rose – so I’ll just say Devils and Saints is a touching, beautifully told story of endurance, friendship and hope. 

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Gallic Books.

In three words: Tender, moving, uplifting

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About the Author

Jean-Baptiste Andrea was born in 1971 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye and grew up in Cannes. He is a director and screenwriter. He wrote his first English-language feature film Dead End in 2003, to critical acclaim. His first novel, Ma Reine, was published in France in 2017 and won twelve literary prizes including the Prix du Premier Roman and the Prix Femina des Lycéens. For two years he travelled to more than 50 cities, in France and abroad, meeting readers, booksellers and librarians. Now he is leaving behind the cinema for literature. (Photo/bio credit: Publisher author page)

About the Translator

Born in Nottinghamshire, England in 1970, Sam Taylor began his career as a journalist with The Observer. In 2001, he moved to southwest France, where he wrote four novels. In 2010, he translated his first novel: Laurent Binet’s HHhH. He now lives in the United States and works as a literary translator and author. Recent translations include The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair, The Heart (for which he won the French-American Translation Prize) and Lullaby/The Perfect Nanny.