Subtil béton (Subtle Concrete)

“The feeling that this world is composed of the hatred of some and the cowardice of others. The certainty that there are things you have to stand up to, even if you are too small, too weird, too lonely.

There are things I can't let pass, and yet, every day, I let plenty pass: plenty of speeches from the Prime Minister, plenty of new laws and new prisons, plenty of evictions and police crimes, plenty of hard work for a pittance, plenty of badly treated illnesses, plenty of deported people, plenty of racist attacks and sexist, homophobic, transphobic violence... And I'm not sure I can stop any of it.

We come together, we seek to be a force, and in the heart of this whirlwind, I merge with the collective power. I know this power, and it fills me with joy.”

Subtil béton is a collective work in which several pens distinguish themselves and respond to each other. Its choral narrative draws the reader into the lives and intimacies of numerous characters, primarily exploring the theme of political struggles.

Following the turbulent period of 2037 in Franco, a port city with a slave trade past, an insurrection breaks out. It is violently repressed by a bloody government response. Subtil béton then tells the story of the aftermath, in 2040. How to rebuild after the defeat? How to find collective strength again? How do we simply get back to living?

Despite its dystopian anticipation, Subtil béton is not bereft of tenderness, hopes and dreams.

Press

"It is rather the human plurality that interests us, and how these characters, in search of a community in an individualistic world that has broken down solidarities, will rebuild themselves. It is a polyphonic and personal novel, which seeks to visit the thoughts, desires and weaknesses of women above all, and of men sometimes."

Comité SF des bibliothèques de Paris