Monique Escapes

I freed myself from your father, I thought this would be a new life for me and now it’s starting all over, everything’s starting all over again. The blazing new book from once-in-a-generation writer Édouard Louis, as he helps his mother escape from an abusive partner SELECTED AS A BOOK TO READ FOR 2026 BY THE FINANCIAL TIMES AND NEW STATESMAN One evening, during a writers’ residency in Athens, Édouard receives a tearful phone call from his mother, Monique. She tells him that the man she lives with in Paris is abusive, inflicting upon her the same drunken behaviour as Édouard’s father, repeating the same cycles of violence, shame and humiliation she fled from before. Step by step, they plan her escape, celebrating each small victory of Monique’s new beginning. But how do you rebuild your life when you’ve never truly known freedom? Monique Escapes is an intimate and gripping portrait of a mother fighting for her self-determination, and of the son who becomes her ally. It is a story of reinvention, the price of liberty and the remaking of the relationship between a mother and a son who, despite the weight of their shared history, manage to find each other again. Translated by John Lambert 'One of the most important, politically vital and morally bracing writers of his generation' GUARDIAN 'I feel so lucky to be living and writing at the same time as Édouard Louis' MAGGIE NELSON 'One of the major writers of our time' GARTH GREENWELL

I freed myself from your father, I thought this would be a new life for me and now it’s starting all over, everything’s starting all over again. The blazing new book from once-in-a-generation writer Édouard Louis, as he helps his mother escape from an abusive partner SELECTED AS A BOOK TO READ FOR 2026 BY THE FINANCIAL TIMES AND NEW STATESMAN One evening, during a writers’ residency in Athens, Édouard receives a tearful phone call from his mother, Monique. She tells him that the man she lives with in Paris is abusive, inflicting upon her the same drunken behaviour as Édouard’s father, repeating the same cycles of violence, shame and humiliation she fled from before. Step by step, they plan her escape, celebrating each small victory of Monique’s new beginning. But how do you rebuild your life when you’ve never truly known freedom? Monique Escapes is an intimate and gripping portrait of a mother fighting for her self-determination, and of the son who becomes her ally. It is a story of reinvention, the price of liberty and the remaking of the relationship between a mother and a son who, despite the weight of their shared history, manage to find each other again. Translated by John Lambert 'One of the most important, politically vital and morally bracing writers of his generation' GUARDIAN 'I feel so lucky to be living and writing at the same time as Édouard Louis' MAGGIE NELSON 'One of the major writers of our time' GARTH GREENWELL

When ?douard's mother reveals she is--not for the first time--enduring an abusive relationship, mother and son plot her next steps in what is at once an edge-of-the-seat escape narrative and a meditation on freedom and renewal. Late one night, ?douard receives a telephone call from his mother. In tears, she tells him that her partner, her first since her abusive marriage with ?douard's father, has been insulting, degrading, and humiliating her. I thought this would be a new life for me and now it's starting all over. From afar, in Athens, ?douard swiftly sets a plan in place for Monique; the next morning, she departs the apartment she has been sharing with the man. What takes shape over the next weeks, over phone calls and informal Internet tutorials, on video chats and train rides, is a powerful and transformative shared experience for mother and son as they navigate the aftermath of male brutality, confront the limitations of class and society, and lay bare the pain of their past. With characteristic insight into society's underpinnings and oversights, and with exquisite and tender portraiture, ?douard Louis's Monique Escapes is a profound story of a woman, a mother, and a family's search for more.

When ?douard's mother reveals she is--not for the first time--enduring an abusive relationship, mother and son plot her next steps in what is at once an edge-of-the-seat escape narrative and a meditation on freedom and renewal. Late one night, ?douard receives a telephone call from his mother. In tears, she tells him that her partner, her first since her abusive marriage with ?douard's father, has been insulting, degrading, and humiliating her. I thought this would be a new life for me and now it's starting all over. From afar, in Athens, ?douard swiftly sets a plan in place for Monique; the next morning, she departs the apartment she has been sharing with the man. What takes shape over the next weeks, over phone calls and informal Internet tutorials, on video chats and train rides, is a powerful and transformative shared experience for mother and son as they navigate the aftermath of male brutality, confront the limitations of class and society, and lay bare the pain of their past. With characteristic insight into society's underpinnings and oversights, and with exquisite and tender portraiture, ?douard Louis's Monique Escapes is a profound story of a woman, a mother, and a family's search for more.