“The most fruitful and natural play of the mind, in my opinion, is conversation.” —Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)

This fall, we look forward to a series of rich and thought-provoking conversations centered on I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (tr. Ros Schwartz, Transit Books); Nadja by André Breton (tr. Mark Polizzotti, NYRB); Ultramarine by Mariette Navarro (tr. Eve Hill-Agnus, Deep Vellum); and Sleeping Children by Anthony Passeron (tr. Frank Wynne, FSG).
This new lineup invites you on a journey through the Francophone world—exploring its diverse cultures, histories, and literary voices, both classic and contemporary. Each month, take a break from your routine and connect with fellow readers from across the United States. The Albertine Book Club offers a welcoming space for conversation, discovery, and community among Francophiles.

Moderated by the Albertine team, the Book Club is free and open to all Albertine members. To learn more about membership, click here.

Our fall meeting calendar will be announced soon. In the meantime, you can read more about the upcoming selections below.

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Ros Schwartz, Transit Books)

Imagine a girl—raised in an underground cage, watched over by silent guards, surrounded by women who have no memory of how they got there. She has never seen the sky, never touched a tree, never heard music. Then—without warning—she and her cellmates are released.
“I Who Have Never Known Men is not dystopian in the usual sense. It’s starker, stranger, and far more unsettling. Jacqueline Harpman crafts a story that feels like myth, parable, and psychological study all at once. The prose is spare and luminous; the questions it raises are anything but. What is memory, when no one else remembers? What is freedom, when there’s nothing left to run to?

Nadja by André Breton (Mark Polizzotti, NYRB)

A gripping tale of infatuation and a meditation on the surrealism of everyday life, Nadja is still a thing of convulsive beauty, impossible to pin or put down, a precursor to works of Julien Gracq, Julio Cortázar, and W.G. Sebald.

Ultramarine by Mariette Navarro (Eve Hill-Agnus, Deep Vellum)

Winner of the 2024 Albertine Translation Prize
The metaphysically disorienting tale of a female captain who loses control of her thinking—and her crew—aboard a cargo ship in the Atlantic.

Sleeping Children by Anthony Passeron (Frank Wynne, FSG)

Sleeping Children begins with a simple, devastating question: how does a family choose what to remember—and what to forget? Passeron traces the rise of his working-class family in the hills above Nice and the slow unraveling that follows his uncle Désiré’s diagnosis with AIDS. At once intimate and expansive, the book moves between rural France and American hospitals, between family legend and public health, weaving personal grief with meticulous research. A story of silence, stigma, and the long shadow of loss.