The Short Dress || Marie Gauthier

Fourteen-year-old Felix arrived in a dusty market-town as a summer apprentice to the roadmender and started living with him and his sixteen-year-old daughter, Gil. Lively, light, and alert, Gil remains at the heart of the novel, and in Felix’s life.

Dropping out from school, she now worked at the mini-mart and looked after the house. And in her free time, slipped away with men, lots of men, often older than her.

In between his internship, and especially at night when he’s alone, Gil reigns over Felix’s mind. Fascinated with her puzzling ways, he gradually turns her into his sole preoccupation and waits for a sign from her.

With a compelling intensity, Marie Gauthier reinstates the dull and oppressive atmosphere of a village in the middle of summer, and the confused sensations of a young boy before the disturbing sensuality of Gil’s body.