Colombe Schneck - Lies in Paradise

Colombe Schneck is best known for her Paris trilogy - three novels about a woman's life. In her latest book "Lies in Paradise" (Rowohlt; French "Mensonges au paradis", Grasset, translated by Claudia Steinitz), she returns autobiographically to her childhood: every summer she spent in the Swiss mountains with young people from around the world, cared for by a married couple who lovingly and strictly raised these foreign children - all from good families, all from difficult family circumstances.

Thirty years later, Schneck travels to Switzerland, meets the people from back then, and especially the couple's own children - those whom the pair favored over the foreign charges and shamefully neglected. The autofictional novel is a study of fragile family relationships and the deceptive power of memory.

Moderation and translation: Gregor Praml. German voice: Anna Staab.

In cooperation with the Institut français Frankfurt/IFRA-SHS and the Consulates General of France and Switzerland in Frankfurt.