French journalist and debut novelist Camille Neveux's compelling debut novel Le verger de Damas (An Orchard In Damascus) has been longlisted to the Prix Maison De La Presse 2024 for commercial fiction, just a few weeks away from publication! The shortlist will be announced on April 8th.
Camille Neveux is a specialist on the Middle East and the Arab world. Her work is a moving, multi-generational family drama set against the backdrop of the Arab Spring which was acquired by Véronique Cardi at JC Lattès at auction. JC Lattès will publish Le verger de Damas (An Orchard in Damascus) as a lead title on April 3rd 2024. Paperback rights have already been snapped up by the Livre de Poche.
As a senior reporter for the Journal du Dimanche (JDD), Camille led investigations in Lebanon, Egypt and Syria amongst others, but it was her husband’s personal history which finally motivated her to write a novel. Born in Daraya, Syria, he was instrumental in organizing the 2011 protests and participated in the Syrian Revolution before moving to France in 2015. Le verger de Damas (An Orchard In Damascus) is fiction, but it is partly inspired by her husband’s story and that of his extended family, many of whom were forced to flee Syria in the wake of the popular uprisings. The result is this fascinating novel, sitting at the crossroads of the personal and the political, which traces the destiny of three generations of a Syrian family with a secret at its heart, set against the Damascus protests that were seen on newsfeeds all over the world.
In the photos above, Camille Neveux signing copies of her debut novel a few weeks before publication.
All translation and audiovisual rights are currently available and an English sample is available for reading.
For more information about this title, please contact Carla Briner (carla@pontas-agency.com).