Le canapé rouge
by
A French woman rides a trans-Siberian train in search of a long-lost lover, all the while remembering conversations with an ancient mysterious neighbor left behind in Paris. The first few pages of this very slim but so rich novel short-listed for the Prix Goncourt in 2007, by veteran French author Michèle Lesbre, feel like a trip to nowhere, but slowly everything in the world disappears but this wistful tale of the folly of waiting for life to happen to you. Beautiful and haunting.
