Staff Pick
The #1 bestseller in France during the lockdown, and my favorite of that year! This dizzying, whip-smart novel blends crime, fantasy, sci-fi, and thriller all in one. The ending stunned me. Recommended By Nan S., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Winner of the Goncourt Prize and now an international phenomenon, this dizzying, whip-smart novel blends crime, fantasy, sci-fi, and thriller as it plumbs the mysteries surrounding a Paris-New York flight.
Who would we be if we had made different choices? Told that secret, left that relationship, written that book? We all wonder—the passengers of Air France 006 will find out.
In their own way, they were all living double lives when they boarded the plane:
Blake, a respectable family man who works as a contract killer.
Slimboy, a Nigerian pop star who uses his womanizing image to hide that he's gay.
Joanna, a Black American lawyer pressured to play the good old boys' game to succeed with her Big Pharma client.
Victor Miesel, a critically acclaimed yet largely obscure writer suddenly on the precipice of global fame.
About to start their descent to JFK, they hit a shockingly violent patch of turbulence, emerging on the other side to a reality both perfectly familiar and utterly strange. As it charts the fallout of this logic-defying event, The Anomaly takes us on a journey from Lagos and Mumbai to the White House and a top-secret hangar.
In Hervé Le Tellier's most ambitious work yet, high literature follows the lead of a bingeable Netflix series, drawing on the best of genre fiction from "chick lit" to mystery, while also playfully critiquing their hallmarks. An ingenious, timely variation on the doppelgänger theme, it taps into the parts of ourselves that elude us most.
Review
“Buckle your seat belts, as Hervé Le Tellier takes you on an extraordinary ride. You won’t want to put this book down until the very last page!” Leila Slimani, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Nanny
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“A striking thought experiment... Le Tellier delivers some sharp social comedy here... But behind the comedy are more profound psychological questions about individual freedom... [The Anomaly] is priceless.” Times Literary Supplement
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“Humorous, captivating, thoughtful—existentialism has never been so thrilling.” Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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“Manifest meets Lost in The Anomaly... [a] puzzle box of a sci-fi thriller.” PopSugar, Best New Mystery and Thriller Books of the Month
Review
“Fantastic... The Anomaly wears its name well: it’s rare in France that a work combines the best of American TV series with an impeccable mastery of the French psychological novel.” Elle (France)
About the Author
Hervé Le Tellier is a writer, journalist, mathematician, food critic, and teacher. He has been a member of the Oulipo group since 1992 and one of the “papous” of the famous France Culture radio show. His books include A Thousand Pearls (for a Thousand Pennies), Enough About Love, Eléctrico W, and All Happy Families.
Adriana Hunter studied French and Drama at the University of London. She has translated nearly ninety books, including Véronique Olmi’s Bakhita and Hervé Le Tellier’s Eléctrico W, winner of the French-American Foundation’s 2013 Translation Prize in Fiction. She lives in Kent, England.