Le Grand vide

“But… Manel Naher, that’s me!”

Who is this other Manel Naher, who makes the headlines? She overshadows Manel Naher, the real Manel Naher, the heroine of this story!

Doesn’t she realize that she puts her, the real Manel Naher, in danger by having all this success? You understand, if everyone starts thinking about this Manel Naher who becomes famous, instead of thinking about Manel Naher, who spends her days in the back of a small bookstore… well: we risk forgetting her, our Manel. And in this world, if you are no longer thought of, then you will simply die.

To think of someone is to give them Presence. The horizon, here, is blocked by the thousands of names that are displayed on all sides, and the beggars only beg for a second of attention… Surviving for some, becoming Immortal for others: it is the Presence that makes this sprawling city turn. Manel, for her part, would gladly turn her back on all that; but over there, beyond the skyscrapers, there is only le Grand Vide, from where no one has ever returned…

Léa Murawiec puts here her virtuoso drawing at the service of a rich and luminous story, with a bubbling rhythm. His talent and mastery illuminate this exciting first book, and we are happily carried away inle Grand Vide !