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A dangerous intimacy emerges between a French teacher and a former student who has achieved art world celebrity: the painting of a portrait upturns both their lives.
About the author
Jean-Philippe Blondel was born in 1964 in Troyes, France, where he lives as an author and English teacher. His novel The 6:41 to Paris has been acclaimed in the United States and across Europe.
Summary
"Art, love and longing, the French way. Blondel’s book ... is the genuine article: an emotionally taut portrayal of late-in-life, post-marriage drift."
—The New York Times Book Review
A French teacher on the verge of retirement is invited to a glittering opening that showcases the artwork of his former student, who has since become a celebrated painter. This unexpected encounter leads to the older man posing for his portrait. Possibly in the nude. Such personal exposure at close range entails a strange and troubling pact between artist and sitter that prompts both to reevaluate their lives. Blondel, author of the hugely popular novel The 6:41 to Paris, evokes an intimacy of dangerous intensity in a tale marked by profound nostalgia and a reckoning with the past that allows its two characters to move ahead into the future.
Foreword
Over 400 advance review copies to be distributed to reviewers and booksellers starting in February 2019, Goodreads giveaways, social media promotion, simultaneous ebook publication.
Additional text
"Blondel’s book, aided by [Alison] Anderson’s deft translation, is the genuine article: an emotionally taut portrayal of late-in-life, post-marriage drift ... Graceful."
—The New York Times Book Review
"A striking variation on the theme of the muse, this novel probes overlapping varieties of attraction ... It veers toward the erotic, quickening the painter’s search for the model’s soul—‘a term that disintegrates the moment you try to define it.’”
—The New Yorker
"Captivating ... The novel flies by with gentle humor, but it also poses complex questions about the meaning of art and sexuality, and offers an elegiac look at late middle age ... Irresistible, and the story’s fundamental kindness sets it apart."
—Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"A short philosophical novel about art, time, and memory ... A subtle and at times radiant read."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Blondel imbues ... [this] story with the quietly fascinating, understated, true-feeling complications of real life."
—Booklist
“A novel of tender, shy wisdom whose characters remind each other that memory lives in the body, loosened like knots by the right touch. Exposed reconciles old age to its theme of regret. It is, however, Blondel’s true talent that we embrace that regret—not only as an opportunity for joy, but as a polestar to guide us places we’d never have gone without it.”
—Patrick Nathan, author of Some Hell
"Fun and delightful ... you’ll find it impossible to tear yourself from the page. It’s compelling, sorrowful, playful, and at once completely believable and mature ... Love and intimacy, romance and sexuality – they’re all portrayed with a real deft hand by Blondel."
—Books and Bao
"Blondel’s books are especially praised by critics for their charm and smoothly-shaped prose. Both virtues are evident in Exposed."
—The Arts Fuse
“Blondel writes superbly.”
―Le Monde
“What makes Jean-Philippe Blondel’s universe so precious is above all its muffled nostalgia and delightful charm.”
—Le Figaro
“The magic of this intimate novel ... plunges into the depths of the heart of its two heroes; one seizing the ‘essence of the other’ who agrees to put himself in absolute danger with a sort of perverse pleasure.”
—Livres Hebdo
Praise for The 6:41 to Paris by Jean-Philippe Blondel:
"A strong plot and a touching portrayal of how any of us might feel when unexpectedly confronted by the detritus of young love ... A timely reminder that the past is always waiting to ambush us."
—The New York Times Book Review
