as reported in The Bookseller:
Andersen Press has acquired a children’s book by this year’s winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Patrick Modiano.
The story, Catherine Certitude, is about a young girl called Catherine whose father runs a shipping business with a failed poet named Casterade. Together they enjoy the simple pleasures of everyday life but Catherine has some questions about her life, including about why her ballerina mother left them to go back to New York.
The book is described a love letter to Paris and ballet that will appeal to fans of classic French children’s stories such asAntoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince (Wordsworth Editions). The illustrator is Jean-Jacques Sempé, who also illustrated René Goscinny’s Little Nicholas series (Phaidon Press).
Klaus Flugge, publisher at Andersen Press, acquired the exclusive UK and Commonwealth rights to the title from French publisher Gallimard.
“I’m absolutely delighted to acquire it,” he told The Bookseller. “It’s a book that will appeal to everyone from aged eight to 80.”
The book is Modiano’s only children’s title and was first published in France in 1988. It was reprinted in 1998.
via Andersen Press to publish Modiano children’s book | The Bookseller.