Artifice: An astonishing French thriller with a jaw-dropping twist
About this ebook
'An astonishing thriller' Libération
Something strange is happening in museums across Paris.
A white horse appears in the library of the Pompidou Centre. Then stuffed wolves are displayed in a gallery, dressed in fine garments and drinking champagne.
The authorities are baffled - particularly when investigations lead to suspended police officer Abel Bac. Since being dismissed for unknown reasons, Abel has been wandering the streets of Paris, haunted by a recurring nightmare and hoping to lose himself in the city.
But following Abel leads to Mila, the mysterious artist at the heart of this enigma - and to a hidden darkness rising to the surface of the city.
As soon becomes clear, nothing about this chain of events has been a coincidence...
Translated by Sophie Lewis.
'Terrific! Set in modern Paris, this literary thriller invigoratingly combines questions of identity, shenanigans in the art world, love and murder' MICHÈLE ROBERTS
'Deliciously unique and unpredictable ... this novel blossoms like a poisonous flower' Le Journal du Dimanche
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About the author
Claire Berest i s the author of novels, Bellevue (2015), Gabriële (2017), which appeared in the 2025 New York Times list of best historical fiction, Rien n'est noir (2019), winner of the ELLE Readers Grand Prize, Artifices (2021), L'épaisseur d'un cheveu (2023), and works of non-fiction. Her most recent is La chair des autres (2024), about the trial of 'Mazan's rapes' and the story of Gisèle Pélicot.
