''Les Âmes grises'' is a novel by the French author

Philippe Claudel Philippe Claudel (born 2 February 1962) is a French writer and film director. Claudel was born in Dombasle-sur-Meurthe, Meurthe-et-Moselle. In addition to his writing, Claudel is a professor of literature at the University of Nancy. He directe ...

. It is a first person narrative which revolves around the murder of a young girl in a small provincial French town near the Western Front in 1917. The book was published in France in 2003 and won the

Prix Renaudot The Prix Théophraste-Renaudot or () is a French literary award. History The prize was created in 1926 by ten art critics awaiting the results of deliberation of the jury of the Prix Goncourt. While not officially related to the Prix Goncour ...

. It was also shortlisted for the

Prix Goncourt The 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 of only 10 euros, but resul ...

and the

Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French List of literary awards, literary prize awarded each year by an exclusively female jury. The prize, which was established in 1904, is awarded to French-language works written in prose or Verse (poetry), verse by male ...

. ''Les Âmes grises'' has been translated into 28 languages. The British edition, translated by

Adriana Hunter Adriana Hunter is a British translator of French literature. She is known for translating over 60 French novels, such as '' Fear and Trembling'' by Amélie Nothomb or '' The Girl Who Played Go'' by Shan Sa. She has been short-listed for the Ind ...

, has been released under the title ''Grey Souls'', while the American translation by Hoyt Rogers is called ''By a Slow River''. The book was also turned into a movie of the same name by director

Yves Angelo Yves Angelo (born 22 January 1956) is a French cinematographer, film director and screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as ...

References

External links

Complete Review page
2003 French novels Novels by Philippe Claudel French historical novels Novels set during World War I Novels set in France Fiction set in 1917 French novels adapted into films {{2000s-WWI-novel-stub Translations into English