Overview

MY FATHER, MY MOTHER AND SHEILABy Éric RomandA bitter-sweet immersion in French provincial life and one young man's journey as he discovers his homosexuality while confronting family upheavals and taboos. Set during the 70s and 80s, this is like a photo album of a family from a working-class background with its codes and taboos, its ignorance, its complexes and disputes. The narrator describes his childhood in this rowdy setting. Those close to him think he has strange tastes, and he has a way about him that enrages his father and breaks his mother's heart. He draws pictures of dresses and gives his sister's dolls fancy hairstyle. He does his best not to add to the tension. To escape, he presses his ear up to his slot-in record player, watches glittering variety shows... and falls for a famous singer, smitten by her sequinned dresses and upbeat refrains. He wants to be her. He doesn't want to be here. A first novel full of sensitivity, set against a background of nostalgia and a healthy dose of humour.Éric Romand came to writing through theatre. He cowrote Comme à la maison, a play first performed in Paris in 2017. My Father, My Mother and Sheila is his first novel.