Maud Ventura

"Excepté mes démangeaisons inexpliquées et ma passion dévorante pour mon mari, ma vie est parfaitement normale. Rien ne déborde. Aucune incohérence. Aucune manie. " Elle a une vie parfaite. Une belle maison, deux enfants et l'homme idéal. Après quinze ans de vie commune, elle ne se lasse pas de dire " mon mari ". Et pourtant elle veut plus encore : il faut qu'ils s'aiment comme au premier jour. Alors elle note méthodiquement ses " fautes ", les peines à lui infliger, les pièges à lui tendre. Elle se veut irréprochable et prépare minutieusement chacun de leur tête-à-tête. Elle est follement amoureuse de son mari. Du lundi au dimanche, la tension monte, on rit, on s'effraie, on flirte avec le point de rupture, on se projette dans ce théâtre amoureux.

In this suspenseful and darkly funny debut novel, a sophisticated French woman spends her life obsessing over her perfect husband--but can their marriage survive her passionate love? At forty years old, she has an enviable life: a successful career, stunning looks, a beautiful house in the suburbs, two healthy children, and most importantly, an ideal husband. After fifteen years together, she is still besotted with him. But she's never quite sure that her passion is reciprocated. After all, would a truly infatuated man ever let go of his wife's hand when they're sitting on the couch together? Determined to keep their relationship perfect, she meticulously prepares for every encounter they have, always taking care to make her actions seem effortless. She watches him attentively, charting every mistake and punishing him accordingly to help him improve. And she tests him--setting traps to make sure that he still loves her just as much as he did when they first met. Until one day she realizes she may have gone too far . . . The winner of France's First Novel Prize in 2021, My Husband builds on the premise of hits like Gone Girl and Fates and Furies--how well can you really know your spouse?--and adds the tension and creepy obsession of You. The result is an irresistible read--compelling, tense, and engaging, infused with sly subversive humor, and told in an utterly original voice that makes it unforgettable. Translated from the French by Emma Ramadan

Daisy Jones and the Six meets Patricia Highsmith in this addictive, intense novel about the brutal and ferocious road to glory, from the award-winning author of My Husband.  Ever since she was a child, Cléo, the French-American daughter of two academics, has had only one becoming a famous singer. Over the years, to everyone’s surprise but her own, she overcomes every obstacle and becomes a global superstar with millions of dollars, countless awards, and several Los Angeles villas to her name. But as any celebrity will tell you, getting to the top is one thing; staying there is another. Now thirty-three years old, Cléo is taking her first real vacation in years, on a remote island with no one else in sight. With the never-ending spin cycle of her life finally on pause and no paparazzi peeking out from behind the coconut palms, she can work on her fourth album in peace. Except that with so much time to think, she can’t help but ruminate on her past—including how, just six months earlier, things started to go very, very wrong . . . Taking place between New York, Paris, Los Angeles, and the South Pacific, How to Become a Celebrity is a brilliant sophomore novel from Maud Ventura that dives intoxicatingly deep into the machinations of one woman’s complicated mind, and her relentless pursuit of fame.

Vista desde fuera, su vida es envidiable: una carrera exitosa, una apariencia deslumbrante, una hermosa casa en las afueras, dos hijos sanos y, lo más importante, un marido ideal. Después de quince años juntos, ella todavía está enamorada de él. Pero nunca tiene la seguridad de que su pasión sea correspondida. Decidida a mantener su relación perfecta, se prepara meticulosamente para cada encuentro, siempre cuidando de que sus acciones parezcan sencillas. Hasta que un día se da cuenta de que puede haber ido demasiado lejos… Mi marido es una historia audaz y estimulante sobre la pasión y los oscuros secretos que se esconden detrás de un matrimonio aparentemente normal.

« La célébrité est ma vie. Est-ce que j'étais préparée à un tel succès ? Bien sûr que oui. » Cléo grandit dans une famille dont elle déplore la banalité. Dès l'enfance, elle n'a qu'une obsession : devenir célèbre. Au fil des années, Cléo saute tous les obstacles qui s'imposent à elle, arrachant chaque victoire à pleines dents, s'entaillant la cuisse à chaque échec. À la surprise de tous, sauf d'elle-même, Cléo devient une star mondiale, accumulant les millions de dollars, les villas à Los Angeles et les récompenses. Bienvenue dans les coulisses de la célébrité, un monde où règnent l'artifice et l'impunité. Célèbre est le récit d'une ascension féroce, brutale et monstrueuse. Un portrait acide et brillant de notre époque. Addictif.