Description

When Anne’s father dies, she is left grieving a contradiction. Jean-Pierre was a man of many faces: the self-taught philosopher born into poverty; the Buddhist who marked his favourite haikus with maple leaves; the old romantic who ends every evening kissing a pixelated portrait of his late wife; and the violent bully, whose alcoholism marks his family’s life in terrible ways.

While sorting through his belongings and making funeral preparations, Anne tries to come to terms with who and what she’s lost, while navigating others’ expectations of mourning and her brother’s fits of explosive rage. As she reaches into their shared past, the similarities between a father and a daughter who has spent so much of her adulthood running away from her childhood become impossible to ignore.

Told with a quick wit and deep tenderness, Before I Forget is a tragicomic portrait of loss and a novel for anyone who’s ever loved a so-called monster.

Publisher Review

‘A perfect strike: funny, emotional, political, and unflinchingly accurate.’ – Virginie Despentes ‘A novel of understated delicacy’ – La Figaro
‘A modest, beautiful tribute to death… From material that could descend into miserabilism, Anne Pauly extracts sensitivity and even burlesque moments’ – Elisabeth Philippe, L’Obs
‘Sharp and musical’ – Vanity Fair
‘A universal text that is almost certain to bring tears to your eyes.’ – L’Humanite