The End Of Eddy - Tapa dura

"When new voices come from underrepresented constituencies, there’s always the hope of a new perspective... I can read Edouard Louis and know something of what it means to grow up in extreme poverty in contemporary France" (Zadie Smith Observer)

"Even in the wake of Knausgaard and Ferrante it is hard to find a literary phenomenon that has swept Europe quite like the autobiographical project of Édouard Louis" (LitHub)

"An extraordinary autobiographical novel about class, violence and sexuality in France. It’s a vivid, often brutal but immensely touching book that restores my faith in the power of literature" (Tash Aw)

"This is the courageous story of an outsider, in equal parts frank, provocative and compelling" (Laura Garmeson Financial Times)

"Stunning... A startling use of the extremely personal to convey a message that is universally relevant" (Vice)

"An intelligent, revelatory book" (Claire Lowdon The Sunday Times)

"The real achievement of the book is not its reportage, but its attitude. It is written entirely without self pity – and, astonishingly, without judgment... courageous, necessary and deeply touching" (Neil Bartlett Guardian)

"It is a brutal, forceful, gripping read. There is no hipster posing, no ironic distance; its anger and rawness make it refreshing. He has something to say – and it’s worth listening to... I suspect we’ll be hearing more of Edouard Louis. He is that relatively rare thing – a novelist with something to say and a willingness to say it, without holding back" (Robbie Millen The Times)

"A candid, necessary call against conventional definitions of masculinity and the fear of difference" (Claire Kohda Hazelton Observer)

"Extraordinary... In prose that revels in describing pain and deprivation, moments of extreme tenderness surface even in the midst of violence" (Tash Aw London Review of Books)

‘Before I had a chance to rebel against the world of my childhood, that world rebelled against me. In truth, confronting my parents, my social class, its poverty, racism and brutality came second. From early on I provoked shame and even disgust from my family and others around me. The only option I had was to get away somehow. This book is an effort to understand all that.’

Édouard Louis grew up in Hallencourt, a village in northern France where many live below the poverty line. His bestselling debut novel about life there, The End of Eddy, has sparked debate on social inequality, sexuality and violence.

It is an extraordinary portrait of escaping from an unbearable childhood, inspired by the author’s own. Written with an openness and compassionate intelligence, ultimately, it asks, how can we create our own freedom?