All These Lives We Abandon
Toutes ces vies qu'on abandonne

Annecy, France, December 1918: The war is over but the trains continue to bring wounded men back from the front. Some are disfigured, amputees; others seem outwardly unharmed but are nonetheless profoundly wounded within themselves. Part of the medical team of Dr Tournier, an alientist-doctor, Claire, a young novice and nurse, attempts to bring them back to life. Among them, a young unknown, mute and cataleptic, doesn’t seem to want to wake up. And yet his eyes sometimes open, he speaks as though in a dream. All around him, everyone busies themselves and hangs on his words, watches his lips that the memories swirling within seem unable to escape. His life is gradually revealed to the reader, but remains a mystery to Claire, moved by his defenseless body which she massages day after day. For both of them, everything is still possible. What life will Claire choose?

Virginie Ollagnier, born in Lyon in 1970, is an instructor in written communication and ergonomy, and scriptwriter of the comic strip Kia Ora. This first novel was a big success with the public as well as the critics (Blois “coup de coeur” prize for a historical novel; 10,000 copies sold).