''The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair'' is a novel by Swiss author Joël Dicker. It was published in the United States on 27 May 2014, by

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

town (called Aurora in the original version and Somerset in the English translation). The protagonist, Marcus Goldman, is a successful young novelist who needs inspiration for his next book. Marcus heads to New Hampshire to stay with his college professor, Harry Quebert, to focus on his writing. When the body of Nola Kellergan is found 33 years after she went missing and Quebert is accused of her murder, Marcus works to uncover the truth. The result of his investigation becomes his next book.

Reception and honours

The book was very popular in Europe, but had middling reviews in North America, due to its use of cliches and its unflattering depiction of American culture. The book has been described as a "breathtakingly plotted" story. In late October 2012, the book won the 2012

Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française Le Grand Prix du Roman is a French literary award, created in 1914, and given each year by the Académie française. Along with the Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French litera ...

. It was also shortlisted for the

Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...

and the

Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine '' La Vie heureuse'' (today known as '' Femina''). The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury. They reward French-language works writte ...

. In November 2012, it was awarded the

Prix Goncourt des Lycéens The Prix Goncourt des Lycéens is a French literary award created in 1987 as a sort of younger sibling of Prix Goncourt, a prestigious prize for French language literature. The ten members of the Académie Goncourt select twelve literary works as ...

. For this prize, 2000 French-speaking high school students vote on their favorite novel from the year's

shortlist. In summer 2013 the book knocked

Dan Brown Daniel Gerhard Brown (born June 22, 1964) is an American author best known for his thriller novels, including the Robert Langdon novels ''Angels & Demons'' (2000), '' The Da Vinci Code'' (2003), ''The Lost Symbol'' (2009), '' Inferno'' (2013), ...

's ''Inferno'' from the top of bestseller lists all over Europe. Early readers of the English translation have described the book as "literary and clever". Considered Switzerland's answer to ''

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ''The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'' (original title in sv, Män som hatar kvinnor , lit=''Men Who Hate Women'') is a psychological thriller novel by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson (1954–2004). It was published posthumously in 2 ...

'', and compared to the fiction of Nabokov and Roth as well as the television series ''

Twin Peaks ''Twin Peaks'' is an American mystery serial drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It premiered on ABC on April 8, 1990, and originally ran for two seasons until its cancellation in 1991. The show returned in 2017 for ...

'', ''The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair'' was published in the United States by Penguin on 27 May 2014. It was one of the biggest original acquisitions in the history of

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Epix Epix (pronounced ''epics'' and stylized as P) is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by the Epix Entertainment LLC subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), a subsidiary of Amazon's MGM Holdings, Inc. The channel's pr ...

and

MGM Television MGM Television Worldwide Group and Digital (alternatively Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television Group and Digital, commonly known as MGM Television and then-known as MGM/UA Television; common metonym: Lion) is an American television production/dis ...

announced that production for a 10-episode TV series named after the book was underway. Principal photography started in mid-August in Forestville, Canada and moved to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

in September to finish production in December. On 6 April 2018, 35 minutes of scenes from the series premiered at Canneseries, the television festival held in Cannes, France, each year. In the United States, the premier occurred on Epix on 4 September 2018, and the 10-episode show concluded its run on 6 November 2018. American actor

Patrick Dempsey Patrick Galen Dempsey (born January 13, 1966) is an American actor and race car driver. He is best known for his role as neurosurgeon Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd in ''Grey's Anatomy''. He had early success as an actor, starring in a number of fi ...

played Harry Quebert, while Ben Schnetzer, Damon Wayans Jr. and

Virginia Madsen Virginia Gayle Madsen (born September 11, 1961) is an American actress and film producer. She made her film debut in ''Class'' (1983), which was filmed in her native Chicago. After she moved to Los Angeles, director David Lynch cast her as Pr ...

played other roles.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair 2012 novels Crime novels Mystery novels 21st-century Swiss novels French-language novels Novels set in New Hampshire