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French author Eliette Abecassis
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“Un heureux evenement” (A happy event) is the ironic title of Eliette Abecassis’ latest book, a humorous description of pregnancy and motherhood. The months after the birth are described as especially gruelling.
“Before […] I am made-up, dressed-up, perfumed. I am intense, romantic, intellectual, passionate. After. I am ageless […] wearing dirty T-shirts […] I am cynical, desolate, dumb and often mean. I am a housewife. I am a wife. I am a mother.”
“Un heureux evenement” is not a book for pregnant women or for those who are thinking of having children. It describes the experiences of Barbara, a pretty young girl who attracts many looks from the opposite sex. Then she discovers she is pregnant and the nightmare begins. When she gives birth to a daughter, Lea, she wonders who ever said that motherhood equalled happiness?
No one had warned her that giving birth would cause such upheaval in her life. Not even her mother! Barbara thought that giving birth would be the most painful part of motherhood, but soon discovers she was wrong.
Then there are the arguments with her husband, a separation, and the feeling of isolation as she loses touch with friends. With humour, Abecassis describes very typical scenes of shopping for baby clothes and nappies and other experiences.
In an easy and funny style, she records Barbara’s experiences, which are sometimes hard to dissociate from what one imagines the author herself lived. Indeed Eliette Abecassis is also a young mother.
A prolific author
Born in Strasburg in 1979,Abecassis is of Moroccan-Jewish descent. Her father is also a writer and the author of several works on Judaism. Raised in a Jewish environment, Eliette practices her faith, observes the kashrut or laws of kosherness, and the Sabbath meal.
Her first novel, “Qumran” (1996) is a detective story about a young orthodox Jew who investigates a series of mysterious murders around Dead Sea Scrolls. Research for this debut, a best-seller that was translated in 18 languages and sold over 200,000 copies worldwide, led her to Israel and the United States.
Since then she has written numerous books, including “Le tresor du temple”, the sequel to “Qumran”, and “Mon Pere”, which was short listed for several French literary prizes including the prestigious Goncourt.
Since 1997, Abecassis teaches philosophy at the University of Caen in France. She has also collaborated with Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai on his award-winning film, “Kadosh”, about women in Israel’s Orthodox community.
With one book a year, it is therefore but a matter of months before a new story on a Jewish theme is published.
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