The Stone Boy

The bestselling French phenomenon, winner of the Prix Lion Noir, now available in English for the first time...

When Madame Préau returns to her own house outside Paris after several years spent in a convalescent home, she immediately notices that the neighborhood has changed. Now, instead of a beautiful garden next door there is a new house. And she can see directly into her new neighbors' windows.

Madame Préau quickly feels that something isn't right. Her neighbors have two perfectly healthy children who play in the yard after school. But there is also a third child: a young boy who looks malnourished and abused, and tosses small stones at her window in an apparent call for help. The family denies his existence.

But is the little boy real, or merely a hallucination of a lonely, mentally unstable old woman cut off from her own beloved grandson?

When the police refuse to listen to her, Madame Préau decides to take matters into her own hands. She's determined to help the little boy, and she'll do anything to make sure he's safe...

Review"Impossible to put down." (La Semaine)

"This book is a real gem full of creativity, humour and suspense." (Le Nouvel Observateur)

About the AuthorSophie Loubière is a novelist, journalist, and radio producer. The author of five novels, several detective short stories and a children's book, Sophie Loubière won the Lion Noir prize and the Ville de Mauves-sur-Loire prize for The Stone Boy. She is also the winner of the SACD Meilleur Jeune Auteur Radio prize for her work in radio.