num_pages: 128
description: The Book of Proper Names is the story of the hapless orphan girl, Plectrude. Raised by her aunt, and unaware of the dark secret behind her past, she is a troubled but dreamy child who is both blessed and cursed by her intoxicating eyes. Discovered to have enormous gifts as a dancer, she is accepted at Paris's most prestigious ballet school, where she devotes herself to artistic perfection, until her body can take no more.In a brilliantly succinct story of haunted adolescence and lost mothers, Nothomb propels the narrative forward until Plectrude is forced to take command of her own fate.
language: English
title: The Book of Proper Names
titlecomplete: The Book of Proper Names
genres: French Literature, Literary Fiction, Novels, Roman, Literature, Belgian, Fiction, Belgium, Contemporary, France
ratings_count: 4433
publisher: Faber and Faber