Sleeping Children
Anthony Passeron
- 'Without
- ever
- raising
- your
- voice,
- you
- have
- shattered
- the
- family
- silence
- that
- scabbed
- over
- tragedy
- and
- produced
- a
- work
- so
- powerful,
- so
- moving
- that
- it
- lingers
- long
- after
- reading.
- Magnificent'
- -
- Annie
- Ernaux,
- Nobel
- Prize
- winning
- author
- of
- The
- YearsIt
- is
- 1981.
- As
- a
- wave
- of
- puzzling
- medical
- cases
- sweeps
- across
- the
- US,
- a
- Parisian
- doctor
- is
- presented
- with
- a
- rare
- case
- of
- a
- disease
- long
- thought
- to
- be
- eradicated.
- It
- marks
- the
- beginning
- of
- a
- race
- on
- both
- sides
- of
- the
- Atlantic
- to
- make
- sense
- of
- a
- deadly
- virus
- that
- will
- define
- a
- generation.Miles
- away
- in
- rural
- France,
- Anthony
- Passeron’s
- family
- are
- dealing
- with
- a
- crisis
- of
- their
- own.
- Their
- small
- village
- is
- gripped
- by
- another
- epidemic
- –
- heroin
- addiction.
- Anthony’s
- uncle
- Désiré,
- once
- the
- pride
- of
- the
- family,
- has
- become
- one
- of
- its
- many
- ‘sleeping
- children’.
- Often
- found
- unconscious
- on
- street
- corners,
- he
- is
- a
- stranger
- to
- his
- family.
- As
- Désiré’s
- life
- descends
- into
- chaos,
- the
- thunder
- of
- the
- AIDS
- crisis
- grows
- closer.
- These
- two
- stories
- -
- one
- intimate,
- one
- global
- -
- are
- about
- to
- collide.**For
- readers
- of
- Édouard
- Louis,
- Douglas
- Stuart
- and
- Annie
- Ernaux,
- Sleeping
- Children
- by
- Anthony
- Passeron
- is
- a
- moving
- and
- eye-opening
- book
- about
- shame
- and
- the
- slow
- poisoning
- of
- a
- family
- by
- the
- secrets
- it
- keeps.
- Exploring
- the
- stories
- of
- the
- heroic
- few
- who
- fought
- for
- a
- cure
- for
- AIDs
- and
- for
- justice
- for
- a
- community
- abandoned,
- it
- is
- a
- radical
- vision
- of
- a
- history
- reshaped,
- retold
- and
- remembered.Translated
- from
- the
- French
- by
- Frank Wynne**
pro-mbooks3 : libris
