CATHERINE CERTITUDE

A classic French story and a love letter to Paris, ballet and childhood memories from Nobel Prize-winner Patrick Modiano and the celebrated illustrator Jean-Jacques Sempé. For all fans of The Little Prince, Le Petit Nicholas and Madeline, this is an elegantly expressive tale for 9-11 year olds or adult collectors of fine children's illustrated literature. Catherine lives with her gentle father Georges Certitude who runs a shipping business in Paris with a failed poet named Casterade. Father and daughter share the simple pleasures of daily life - sitting in the church square, walking to school, going to her ballet class every Thursday afternoon. But just why did Georges change his name to Certitude? What kind of trouble with the law did Casterade rescue him from? And why did Catherine's ballerina mother leave to return to New York? Translated from the French by a veteran of literary translation William Rodarmor it begins 'It's snowing here in New York, and I'm looking out of the window of my 59th Street apartment at the building across the way where I run a dance school. Behind the large glass panes, the students in leotards have stopped their pointe work and entrechats practice. As a change of pace, my daughter, who works as my assistant, is showing them a jazz step. I'll join them in a few minutes. Among the students is a little girl who wears glasses...' Dreamily beautiful line art coloured with watercolour by the inimitable Sempé, this is a very collectable edition. 80 pages, 14.5 x 21.5cm.