'The Margot Affair,' by Sanae Lemoine '15 out June 16

The Margot Affair, the debut novel by Alumna Sanaë Lemoine ’15, will be published on June 16 through Hogarth Press.

The New York Times calls the book “gorgeous,” describing Lemoine’s prose as “lush, lyrical... perfectly captur[ing] the heightened emotion and confusion of being a young woman with a bruised heart and limited experience.”

The aforementioned young woman with the bruised heart is Margot Louve, the secret daughter of a French politician and a famous actress who lives in a West Bank apartment with her mother. At seventeen, Margot reveals the secret of her paternity to a journalist in the hopes of gaining public acknowledgement from her father. The plan backfires, and instead, the journalist and his wife loom larger in Margot’s life.

Publisher’s Weekly, along the same vein of the New York Times, writes, “The eclectic cast and rich Parisian backdrop deepen this dramatic exploration of family and the trials of early adulthood. Francophiles and anyone who appreciates an emotionally rewarding story will enjoy Lemoine’s lush, well-crafted tale.”

Lemoine was raised in France and Australia, and now lives in New York. Since then, she has worked as a recipe writer and editor, and most recently, as a cookbook editor at Phaidon Press and Martha Stewart Books. She also taught essay writing and was a writing consultant at the Writing Center for Columbia University.