The A26 Read online

  Yolande cocked the gun.

  ‘You’re an idiot, André, you always were.’

  ‘Don’t do that! Yolande, you’re Yolande!’

  At the front the bullet didn’t do too much damage. It was at the back that it all burst out, sending a shower of brain and bone all over the undergrowth. On the shelves, the bottles had shrunk closer. Not a table or a chair so much as breathed. Silence had possessed the scene once more.

  All of a sudden Yolande felt very weary. Her shoulder still trembled from the kick of the rifle. She flopped down on to a chair across from what was left of Roland.

  ‘It’s a cold world out there and I’m going to make sure they know it.’

  Exhausted, Yolande went to sleep.

  Notes

  1. A quotation from Rimbaud’s sonnet, ‘Le Dormeur du Val’. Written at the time of the Franco-Prussian War, it evokes a young soldier apparently asleep in an idyllic spot. Only in the last line is it revealed that he has been shot dead. The ironic effect in the context is obvious, and reinforced by the presence of a character with the name of the greatest military hero of French legend.

  The Panda Theory

  “You’ve only been here for a few days but you already know loads of people. You walk into people’s lives, just like that.”

  Gabriel is a stranger in a small Breton town.

  Nobody knows where he came from or why he’s here. Yet his small acts of kindness, and exceptional cooking, quickly earn him acceptance from the locals.

  His new friends grow fond of Gabriel, who seems as reserved and benign as the toy panda he wins at the funfair.

  But unlike Gabriel, the fluffy toy is not haunted by his past…

  ISBN 978-1-9060-4042-0

  £6.99 paperback

  How’s the Pain?

  Death is Simon’s business. And now the ageing vermin exterminator is preparing to die.

  But he still has one last job down on the coast and he needs a driver.

  Bernard is twenty-one. He can drive and he’s never seen the sea. He can’t pass up the chance to chauffeur for Simon, whatever his mother may say.

  As the unlikely pair set off on their journey, Bernard soon finds that Simon’s definition of vermin is broader than he’d expected…

  Veering from the hilarious to the horrific, this offbeat story from master stylist, Pascal Garnier, is at heart an affecting study of human frailty.

  ISBN 978-1-9083-1303-4

  £6.99 paperback

  To be published Autumn 2013

  Moon in a Dead Eye

  Given the choice, Martial would not have moved to Les Conviviales. But Odette loved the idea of a brand-new retirement village in the south of France.

  So that was that.

  At first it feels like a terrible mistake: they’re the only residents and it’s raining non-stop. Then three neighbours arrive, the sun comes out, and life becomes far more interesting and agreeable.

  Until, that is, some gypsies set up camp just outside their gated community…

  ISBN 978-1-9083-1349-2

  £6.99 paperback

  About the Author

  Pascal Garnier

  Pascal Garnier was born in Paris in 1949. The prize-winning author of over sixty books, he remains a leading figure in contemporary French literature, in the tradition of Georges Simenon. He died in 2010.

  Melanie Florence

  Melanie Florence teaches at The University of Oxford and translates from the French.

  Copyright

  First published in 2013

  by Gallic Books, 59 Ebury Street,

  London, SW1W 0NZ

  This ebook edition first published in 2013

  All rights reserved

  © Gallic Books, 2013

  The right of Pascal Garnier to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

  ISBN 978–1–908313–53–9 epub

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