I read this book in French but decided to write a review for this site for two reasons. The first is that it seems to have a lot in common with ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' in that Clara, 4, is autistic, and her mother has run off with another man. However, the way this information is presented is completely different; for one thing the book is written from the father’s POV as Clara doesn’t speak. Authors often worry that their ideas have already been done, but this shows there is room in the market for another ‘autist’ book. (The Mark Haddon has been translated here.)

Secondly, the book could be described as a supernatural thriller, with well-developed characters and stylish prose. It was published in November 2004 and is a best-seller in France, so I think we can safely say there is a market for the supernatural.

Clara’s father works in a cinema production company, while his daughter attends a day care centre. One day, he finds some carefully written sentences in one of her exercise books, a story set in 2012 in Alaska. Clara is put under video surveillance and it evolves that she wrote the phrases. I won’t give away any more of the plot, but it is a real page turner!

I hope this book will be translated into English – it is a touching story.