La Bleue L Ardoise Magique

Rights sold to: Croatia (Skolska Knjiga) and Taiwan (Rye Field)Two girls are sitting on the guardrail of a bridge. A train hurtles past. One jumps, the other does not. The one who jumped was Alice. She was rich and pretty, and lived in a residential area. The other girl's name is Mina. Since her mother died she has been living with her aunt and uncle in a high rise council flat. The two girls had sworn to commit suicide together. By breaking the pact, Mina loses every reason to live. Why did she not jump? What kept her here? Why did Alice want to end it all? What sort of downward spiral lead them to suicide? Now a runaway, Mina wants to understand what has happened since Alice came into her life. Why did they form such a strong friendship? Who was Alice really? This search for answers forces Mina to examine the truth, the terrible truth, one whose clutches she must escape to earn her freedom. Valérie Tong Cuong has had six other novels published: Big (1997, Nil), Gabriel (1999, Nil), Où je suis (2001, Grasset), Ferdinand et les iconoclastes (2003, Grasset), Noir dehors (2006, Grasset), and Providence (2008, Stock). She is a writer, and a singer in the group Quark (four albums released).