The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Description

By Muriel Barbery

Renée Michel is the concierge of an expensive apartment building in Paris: fifty-four, widowed, and careful to appear exactly as dull as her tenants expect. In private she reads Tolstoy and Husserl and hides the fact with some effort.

Paloma Josse is twelve, lives on the fifth floor, is far too clever, and has decided to end her life on her thirteenth birthday. The two narrate in turn, and neither notices the other until a new Japanese tenant sees them both.

First published 2006