Love Me Tender (Hardback) - Constance Debre

A provocative and fierce novel about motherhood, self-discovery and defiance

'Destined to become a classic of its kind' Maggie Nelson 'One of the most compulsive voices I've read in years' Olivia Laing, Observer When Constance told her ex-husband that she was dating women, he made a string of unfounded accusations that separated her from her young son, Paul. Laurent trained Paul to say he no longer wants to see his mother, and the judge believed him. She approaches this new life with passionate intensity and the desire for an unencumbered existence, certain that no love can last. Apart from cigarettes, two regular lovers and women she has brief affairs with, Constance's approach is monastic and military - she swims daily, reads, writes, and returns to small or borrowed rooms for the night. A starkly beautiful account of impossible sacrifices asked from mothers, Love Me Tender is a bold novel of defiance, freedom and self-knowledge.

About the Author

Constance Debre has written two other novels, Play Boy, which won the Prix de la Coupole in 2018, and Nom. Love Me Tender won the Prix Litteraire des Inrockuptibles in 2020. Holly James is a translator, writer and editor. Her translations have been published by Europa Editions and Semiotext(e).