L'Année la plus chaude

A coming-of-age novel set in the heart of a Belgian village. A cry of rage against monotony and boredom. It had never been hotter than that summer. By mid-July, dead leaves cover the streets of the residential area where Alex lives with his parents and his younger brother. Stuck between a stay-at-home mom with buried dreams and a father obsessed by flight simulations on his computer, Alex will soon celebrate his thirteenth birthday the same way he always did: in relative indifference. Fortunately, he can count on his best friends Jérôme and Sophie, and the turquoise waters of the "Caribbean", the former communal quarry. When Alex's dad loses his job and starts wandering aimlessly around the house, everything goes off-rail. His mom just wants to escape somewhere and Marko, the village bully, decides to privatize the Caribbean. Alex has to do something to save the summer and his family. When he notices something gold sparkle at the bottom of the Caribbean, he hopes it might be the solution to all his problems. This bittersweet first novel recounts the end of childhood innocence and the compelling need to start over, better, somewhere else.