Main character Sophie tries to finish a book in her unheated flat in Lyon. She is jobless and no longer benefits from the unemployment prime. When she pays her open accounts, she has no money left to buy some food. Her friend Hector, a musician (and sex maniac) is in a similar situation. Sophie often has inner monologues with her personal devil called Lorchus, who relentlessly tries to convince her to cabbage in the supermarket or to become a pickpocket. She also often hears her mother’s voice giving advice or blame for her situation. Sophie has her mum and 6 brothers living nearby Montpellier.

Too ashamed to ask for money or assistance, she listens to the discussions of her brothers who all want the best for their children and she states: job and family give you a social value and are the most important elements to become gentrified…no chance for her: she has neither a family of her own nor a job! Once back in Lyon she tries a new adventure as a waitress… (hilarious!)

To write about such an oppressing issue –joblessness- in such an entertaining and comical way is a great feat! Sophie Divry lets no respite to her reader, because she tells her main character’s life with clash & irony. She’s using all narrative or formal techniques she can find: calligrammes, changing typefaces, using poems, songs, letters of application, outstanding accounts, smileys and even a bonus (!) at the end- without losing the suspense of the plot. This novel is a little bomb – it is biting, witty, excessive, trendy, moving and yet, it reveals a lot about our today’s society. She is sparing no one, not even herself or the reader, revealing the hidden pettiness in the human nature.

La condition pavillonnaire (The Suburban Condition), published in 2014, was shortlisted for the Prix du Monde and the Prix des Libraires du Québec et de la France, and received a special mention from the Prix Wepler. Critically acclaimed, Sophie Divry was THE author everyone was talking about last fall, according to Elle magazine. A very current story. Unemployed youth in precarious situations. How can you live with no income? Inventing a new way of life.