The Sub Rosa reading group will meet Saturday December 5 at 6:30 to discuss The Furrow by Valérie Mateau.
Sub Rose meets on the last Saturday of the month to discuss strange and wonderful books with a feminist slant. Books are discounted 15% in store and are currently in stock now.
About The Book
First published in France to major acclaim, The Furrow follows a French writer living with her lover in an Istanbul caught in the turmoil of Erdogan’s rule. As the city around her strains under the weight of disorder and conflict, she discovers the story of Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian journalist whose life and assassination become a catalyzing force for Turkish resistance writ large and for the narrator’s own writerly ambition. Manteau’s singular rhythm and sinuous prose deliver a novel that stretches the seams of historical memory and personal narrative. As the narrator’s voice disintegrates into the tangled language of her community, Manteau asks us to question who is telling what story and why. At once a feminist reading and fervent defence of democracy, Manteau’s second novel–and first work to appear in English–galvanizes the reader to inhabit the feeling of collective resistance.
Winner of the Prix Renaudot, The Furrow arrives at a critical time in the contemporary zeitgeist, as authoritarianism becomes an ever greater presence across the world and collective action an ever more urgent imperative.
“A turbulent, violent world that is both fraught with terror and teeming with life.”
–Annie Ernaux“This book is written with a candidness that struck me immediately.”
–Virginie Despentes“I wish I could write like Manteau. The Furrow is the best thing I’ve read in a long time.
–Miriam Toews
About The Author
Valérie Manteau is a French writer and editor based in Marseille. Her novel The Furrow won the 2018 Prix Renaudot and has sold over 100,000 copies in France. She is also the author of Calme et tranquille (2016) and Entre chiens et loups (2025), and she was formerly a contributing editor to Charlie Hebdo.
Claire Foster is a writer, bookseller, and literary translator from French. She is the translator of Pierre Clémenti’s 1973 memoir, A Few Personal Messages (Small Press, 2022). Born and raised in Ohio, she lives and works in Toronto.