Christian Dorsan, author, blogger and contributor from the 20 Minutes Books reading group, recommends “A Study in Yellow” whose author, Guillaume Le Cornec, he interviewed. This second book in the detective saga The Murmurs was published on November 4, 2023 by Éditions du Seuil Jeunesse.
His favorite quote:
He screams and suddenly opens his eyes as if he were in danger of sinking into a bottomless, endless pit of dementia. The panic rises, rises, rises… He brings his hands to his cheeks. Damn, he’s crying! He just can’t stop. He cries like a child, Bilal, the upright and elegant Bilal feels his entire mental architecture cracking, his proverbial balance collapses.
Why this book?
- Because after a first opus, The Black Passersbyawarded in Cognac, the second volume of the saga The Murmurs gets off to a flying start and the pace is maintained until the end. After bourgeois Lyon, it is in the middle of the docks of Le Havre that Enzo and Manon come to the aid of Bilal, a brilliant student. And as in volume I, there is a shock due to the vision of a painting, a study by Dufy.
- Because the way past traumas are revealed is full of surprises and Enzo’s troubles with the Demeco Family become complex and put the lives of his friends at stake. That’s without counting on a mysterious hitman.
- Because Guillaume Le Cornec describes in his fiction committed youth, aware of economic and environmental issues, youth concerned about their future, positive youth, and that feels good!
Guillaume Le Cornec, in your novel the characters are captured by a painting which “speaks” to them by awakening a forgotten trauma. Where does this idea of “making” the paintings “speak” come from?
The paintings don’t really speak, naturally, but the emotions they trigger are so strong that some people develop discomfort or disorders. The idea of Stendhal syndrome bringing back a trauma coupled with the thriller seemed to me to be a good alloy to build a story. Then and more profoundly, taking up a quote from my friend the novelist Michèle Pedinielli, there is the idea that without beauty and without art, we are heading towards barbarism.
You leave the Lyon bourgeoisie of the first volume to center the action of the second in the docks of Le Havre. Two different environments, mirror effect desired?
In all my books, I try to question capitalism and the contemporary world. Capitalism is about winners and losers, people who are born with everything and others to whom nothing is offered. As for Le Havre, it’s a port city that has something more than the others… Its size? the excess of its industry? When I discovered the Museum of Modern Art, my decision was made: one day I will write a novel set here.
In your book, finance, industries and the mafia are listed. Do these environments use the same methods?
Not always, fortunately (laughs)… However, organized crime and certain multinationals which break the rules are two sides of the same system that need to be questioned… Capitalism is in essence a system of predation. We draw resources, transform them and sell them. Until exhaustion ? Ultra-capitalism and organized crime share this idea that the rule is made to be abolished or circumvented. This leads to the uberization of work, the destruction of life, and sometimes to the fusion of these two worlds…
Your young heroes seem concerned with their times, with a moral sense of commitment. Was it important for you to show positive youth?
I spend my life with teenagers and, really, this cliché that they are not very committed annoys me. Look who is campaigning, who is taking to the streets… Afterwards, it is their responsibility not that of the youth that governments and capitalism have decided to buy social peace by promoting overconsumption as a dogma!
You have created a literary structure, La Mutinerie, what does it consist of?
It is a structure for cultural mediation through fiction so that museums, major heritage sites or regional natural parks can use it as discovery tools. We work towards adolescent audiences and adult audiences. Putting life and beauty back at the center of play thanks to literature is an idea that inspires me.
We hope for a third volume of your saga for next year, where will it take place?
We’ll see if my publisher agrees to send me to Naples for location scouting (laughs)…
The essentials in 2 minutes
The plot. At the Le Havre museum, Bilal, the son of a docker, falls victim to Stendhal syndrome in front of a study by Dufy. This event coincides with the return of his “exiled” uncle. Helped by the heroes of the first volume, Enzo and Manon, Bilal will have to face a reality that is beyond him.
Characters. Manon and Enzo who come to the aid of Bilal, a young student, the Boumaza family whose uncle Rabah is a dubious businessman, Professor Stapénic, Dalibor, hitman, the mafia, a study by Dufy and the dockers of the Haven.
The author. With A study in YellowGuillaume Le Cornec signs the second volume of the saga The Murmurs. The first volume, Black Passersby, won the Youth Prize at the Cognac Polar Festival. After the success of Investigations in the Gardenshe created La Mutinerie, a literary mediation structure.
This book has been read in a whirlwind as the second volume of this saga is very rhythmic. No downtime, no respite, Guillaume Le Cornec depicts a committed, lucid youth, far from the clichés of passive teenagers. An excellent action novel, thrilling and exciting.
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