Nothing Holds Back the Night
Award-winning French novelist de Vigan combines memoir with fiction in this gripping exploration into her mother’s troubled life. After 61-year-old Lucile commits suicide, de Vigan sets out to tell Lucile’s difficult story in an attempt to uncover, and understand, the genesis of her despair. We see Lucile as the third child in a family of 11 raised by unorthodox parents who regard her as an enigma. She becomes a child model, then marries at 18, and soon after gives birth to de Vigan. The marriage doesn’t last, and Lucile raises de Vigan and her younger sister as a single mother. Their upbringing is an unconventional one, punctuated by the tormenting effects of Lucile’s escalating battle with mental illness, in which periods of calm are followed by profound episodes of darkness. The narrative alternates between Lucile’s tale and de Vigan’s worries over the damage Lucile’s ordeal may cause her living relatives, particularly when disturbing family secrets are revealed. De Vigan’s self-doubt is an undercurrent throughout, offering a raw perspective on mental illness and the veil of family myth. --Leah Strauss--This text refers to an alternatePaperbackedition.