Gallic to publish graphic novel edition of Proust and Joncour's English debut

Gallic Books has announced two new projects, with a graphic novel adaptation of Proust and a new book from French author Serge Joncour.

Joncour’s Wild Dog, out in April 2020, is the first of his works to be published in English and has already won the Prix Landerneau. It tells the story of Franck and Lise, a Parisian couple who rent out a cottage in the quiet hills of the French Lot to escape the stresses of modern life. A wild dog soon emerges from the trees, looking for a new master.

The synopsis explains: “The couple discover that the house has a savage history, with a mysterious German lion tamer hiding his wild beasts there during the First World War. The wolfdog leads Franck to discover dark secrets about himself and the house, where two love stories intertwine. In an electrifying novel that is part romance, part psychological thriller, Joncour takes the reader back to nature at its most brutal, delivering a haunting reminder that man and beast have more in common than we like to think.”

Jane Aitken, founder and m.d, acquired world English language rights from Florence Giry at Flammarion. She said: "Set against a haunting backdrop, Wild Dog is a thrilling story that makes a profound impression. In a dual narrative connecting the First World War and the present day, Joncour addresses what we have done to the natural world and its effect on how we lead our lives today.”

Meanwhile, a 112-page illustrated version of Proust’s In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower will be published in December, 100 years after the original first appeared. Aitken bought UK & Commonwealth rights from Sévérine Aupert at Delcourt.

Following the publisher’s acclaimed version of Swann’s Way in 2016, the second volume of In Search of Lost Time sees the narrator enter adolescence and spend the summer with his grandmother at the beach resort of Balbec. There he become enamoured with a group of girls including Albertine, one of the key figures in later volumes.

Gallic said the new edition would be “an accessible opening to Proust for those daunted by the sheer size and complexity of his work”. Aitken explained: "We are fans of Proust at Gallic Books, and are so pleased to be publishing this second graphic volume of In Search of Lost Time in such a Proustian year. The graphic novels are lovingly adapted by Stéphane Heuet with the approval of the Society of the Friends of Marcel Proust, and this second volume contains most of Proust’s key characters.’