No and Me by Delphine de Vigan
Only £3.99 RRP £7.99 
Lou Bertignac has an IQ of 160 and a good friend in class rebel Lucas. At home her father puts a brave face on things but cries in secret in the bathroom, while her mother rarely speaks and hardly ever leaves the house. To escape this desolate world, Lou goes often to Gare d'Austerlitz to see the big emotions in the smiles and tears of arrival and departure. But there she also sees the homeless, meets a girl called No, only a few years older than herself, and decides to make homelessness the topic of her class presentation. Bit by bit, Lou and No become friends until, the project over, No disappears. Heartbroken, Lou asks her parents the unaskable question and her parents say: Yes, No can come to live with them. So Lou goes down into the underworld of Paris' street people to bring her friend up to the light of a home and family life, she thinks.
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Richard & Judy's Review
Judy
This story is very unusual and exceptionally tender. It’s very French [naturally, since the author is French and it’s set in Paris] but what makes it so strongly Gallic is that the thirteen year old girl who narrates it does so in such a serious manner, socially responsible in a way we seem to have forgotten how to be in this country.
Anyway, our young heroine, Lou, befriends a homeless girl as part of a school project.
And her own comfortable middle-class life is suddenly blown apart, as she sees the terrible privations endured by her new vagrant friend, No.
But little Lou’s home-life is not so conventional after all. Her mother is almost catatonic with depression, after losing Lou’s baby sister to cot-death. Her father touchingly tries both to comfort his wife and help his sad little daughter, who is exceptionally bright, and gifted [or cursed?] with a precocious insight into the adult world, and its total inability to set right such basic injustices as girls like No, left to sleep rough at the Gare d’Austerlitz.
Lou takes No under her wing, even persuading her parents to let her live with them. Lou’s mother miraculously recovers from her depression while No stays there, but nothing is as simple as it seems.
This is not really a story about homelessness; rather a quirky, charming tale about how a clever but naive young girl comes to terms with the harsh realities of the adult world. It’s an exceptional read. I doubt you’ll come across such a simple, grave and charming story again.
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Richard
This is a deceptively simple story comprising less than 250 pages. Initially, No and Me feels like a brief, almost shallow exploration of the underground life of the Paris homeless. We’ve all read about cardboard cities which exist in parallel to conventional, acceptable society. So what’s new about this story?
Everything. No and Me is a brilliant piece of writing by Delphine de Vigan. That’s because she tells her tale through the eyes and with the voice of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl, Lou, who has precocious intelligence and a burgeoning social conscience. Think Lisa Simpson, without the jokes.
Lou has an IQ of 160, so when she meets No – who is five years older than her – at one of Paris’s main railway stations, they have a certain equivalence. But only intellectually – Lou comes from a comfortable, if dysfunctional, middle-class home; No is a vagrant living on the streets.
The girls bond, thanks to Lou’s determination to complete a school project on the city’s homeless. Gradually, No’s instinctive distrust gives way to acceptance and gratitude for Lou’s many small kindnesses. And, halfway through this increasingly emotional story, No comes to live with Lou and her parents.
That changes everything. No and Me is a novel full of surprises, tenderness, and wisdom. And it is a fabulous read, as well.
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Delphine De Vigan Author Interview
Richard and Judy chat with 'No and Me' author Delphine De Vigan.
"Hi, Welcome back to the Richard & Judy Book Club, exclusively at WHSmith, and our next book is quite extraordinary, I'm not sure how to describe it as I've never read anything like it. It's an incredibly tender and quirky story, it's called 'No and Me' or I could say 'Non and Me' as it's written by a French author, Delphine De Vigan and she's here with us today."
Delphine de Vigan - Biography
Delphine de Vigan is the author of several novels, including Jolis Garçons, Soir de décembre and Les heures souterraines. No and Me is her first novel to be published in English; it was a bestseller in France (100,000), where it was awarded the Prix des Libraires (The Booksellers’ Prize) in 2008, and also a bestseller in Italy (50,000).
George Miller is a regular translator for Le Monde diplomatique’s English-language edition. He is also the translator of Conversations with my Gardener by Henri Cueco and Inside Al-Qaeda by Mohammed Sifaoui.
Delphine de Vigan - WHSmith Q & A
Do you allow anyone to read your books before being published other than the publisher and is there a reason behind that?
My publisher is the only one to read my novels. Once I know a book is going to be published, I will give it to a few people before it comes out. Françoise Sagan said something like "One writes for 4 or 5 people who can bring you down with a single word". I believe this and it's undoubtedly because I value the judgment of those close to me the most that I prefer them to read it once I am sure that the manuscript will become a book.
What literary inspirations do you draw from?
I don't like to place myself in a particular genre because my books are all very different from each other. I try to find my own way and shake off other influences, it's not easy! As a reader, I am also interested by very different authors. As far as contemporary literature is concerned, there are some great authors who I admire enormously and of whose work I am particularly fond - James Salter, Don DeLillo, Joan Didion for example.
What is the best book you have ever read and how did you come to that conclusion?
I have read many great books and it is impossible to make a list of only a couple. There are several who have influenced me greatly-Body Art by Don De Lillo, Light Years by James Salter and Play it as it Lays by Joan Didion to name but a few. Among the classic authors that I have enjoyed are Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, What Maisie Knew and Une vie by Guy de Maupassant and Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett.
If you could work with any author who would it be?
Maybe Patrick Modiano, to be able to understand how we can write literature simply; without any fuss or showiness
How do you manage to get inside the heads of all your different characters in order to portray them truthfully?
Whilst writing No and Me I had the feeling that I lived the life of a thirteen year old for a year. It was like she and I were living together inside me, allowing me to see the world through her eyes, from her height of 1m30. This is also definitely because I see similarities between the character of Lou and how I was when I was a young girl.
Who is your favourite character from any book and why?
I think that it is Gaston Lagaffe who is a hero of a french comic strip which I read when I was a child. He is extremely kind but totally absent-minded and completely out of touch with reality. He makes all of these blunders and mistakes but ultimately lives in some kind of parallel universe which only belongs to him.
How do you decide on the names of your characters?
Certain names have particular significance. For example, Lou is a reference to a pseudonym under which I wrote my first novel in France in 2001 (Lou Delvig). It was a way to create a link between the two novels which actually don't really have anything in common. The nickname of No refers to the loss of identity - No is a name of negation and rejection.
Do you have any little quirks or funny habits when you are writing?
I tend to alternate between times where I need complete solitude to write and, on the other hand, times where I need to be totally surrounded by people. When I go away on holiday with friends, I love to settle down amongst them whilst they have a drink and write in the middle of the noisy chaos of playing children and the sounds of dinner being prepared!
How long did the book take you to write?
For me writing always follows the same process. There is about a year which I call the incubation period during which I make notes in little notebooks and write nothing. Then, strictly speaking, it takes me about a year to write.
What writing plans do you have for next year?
I am going to write my 6th novel which I have only just started. As well as this I will be touring on publication of my fifth novel Underground Time which has been translated into various different languages.
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