Want a really feel-good novel? Mark Levy, a writer who always knows how to touch the hearts of his readers, offers a love story that soothes the heart and gives hope with his new novel. Turn everything off and life shines A respite from our troubled world. This journey through the lives of a young but wounded man and a grieving, mature woman shows that true love is incredibly powerful.
Adele and Jeremy meet on a ship, heading for a new port and perhaps a new life. During a storm, they “accidentally” meet. Once on solid ground, their paths cross again, and despite many things opposing them, they discover that very strong bonds have been forged.
In an interview from New York, where he lived for many years, Mark Levy confirms that he too wanted a little escape from the doldrums and turmoil the planet has been engulfed in for months.
“I won’t pretend that people want to read it, but I have to write it. I can’t stand any of the divisiveness, the attacks. I wanted a story that warmed my heart, and it did me a lot of good to write this novel. Really. It’s from the environmental collapse that weighs on us all. Took my head.
Love isn’t premeditated — or planned, she adds. “I started writing at the end of August. I wanted to write, and the role of Adele immediately imposed itself. And Jeremy -. I was really good with them! I followed them in their story.
“This is a novel I wrote in seven weeks. I tell you, it did me a lot of good, writing it. So, if people are happy when they read it, I will be very happy!
The story of Adele, an expert watchmaker, and Jeremy, an organist who dreams of playing jazz, is not trivial. It is spiced up with several humorous adventures and well-thought-out petty revenges.
Ignore convention
The meeting between Adele and Jeremy shows that in society, it is time for a little more peace and freedom from the molds that society often imposes. Maybe it’s time to give expectations, conventions and imposed models a good kick.
“We are more and more locked in: locked in – in ages, in ideas, in judgments. These characters have freedom in their heads, freedom in their hearts. They have also experienced their hard knocks, they have experienced their winters, and there they have only one desire: the desire to live.
Another’s point of view
Mark Levy believes that we are more in the eyes of others than we sometimes want to admit or acknowledge. “It is through the eyes of others that we feel young or old, beautiful or ugly, intelligent or stupid. It’s really in the tenderness and the other person’s perspective that I believe has no age.
Although Adele is older than Jeremy, she is a woman in the making, the writer adds. “She changes because when she feels loved, she conquers it. She is not conquered by flattery. And, she is very humble. She is conquered because, suddenly, it’s like water is put back in her heart. And life begins again.
“We give ourselves an intelligence after we do things, and we don’t necessarily do them when we do them…but I guess I wanted to say that. It feels so good to love and be loved!”
Turn everything off and life shines, Mark Levy. Editions Robert Laffont / Versilio, 216 pages.
In bookstores November 25.
Biographical Notes
- For more than 20 years, Marc Levy has been the most widely read French author in the world, with more than 50 million copies sold and translated into 50 languages.
- He lives in New York.
- It will be at the Salon International du Livre de Quebec this coming April.
– Read an exclusive excerpt from the novel here:
– Mark Levy Turn everything off and life shinesEditions Robert Laffont / Versilio
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