Аэростаты

"This book includes the last two - the twenty-ninth and the thirtieth, both partly autobiographical. "Balloons" is the story of a Brussels student named Ange. Having undertaken to give literature lessons to a lyceum graduate, she finds herself in a strange, almost unreal situation rich mansion, where her sixteen-year-old student is kept virtually locked up. Reading great books brings them closer. Both are struggling to find their place in modern life and are somewhat reminiscent of ancient balloons, which a teenager in love with his teacher is carried away by. “First Blood” - a novel about the writer’s father, a prominent diplomat, who died suddenly in 2020. Finding himself hostage by Congolese rebels, the young Belgian consul Patrick Nothomb stands in front of the firing squad awaiting execution and remembers every minute of the twenty-eight years of his life - childhood, youth, love." -