ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG (GALLIC BOOKS)

Rene is the concierge of a grand Parisian apartment building. She maintains a carefully constructed persona as someone uncultivated but reliable. Several floors up, twelve-year-old Paloma Josse is determined to avoid the pampered and vacuous future laid out for her by her parents and decides to end her life on her thirteenth birthday. But unknown to them both, the sudden death of one of their privileged neighbours will dramatically alter their lives forever.