Shelter

This is an amazing, crazy, and masterfully written story! When a person experiences severe psychological trauma, the brain shuts down the emotional system, and the victim endures torment in a state of altered consciousness. But then, when the victim is freed from their aggressor, they often exhibit the consequences of the stress they experienced… And the brain builds itself a shelter: a parallel memory that replaces reality so the victim stops suffering, an illusion in order to survive. Where to hide when there is nowhere else to run? Sandrine, who recently moved to Normandy, receives a call from a notary. He asks her to take her late grandmother's personal belongings from her home – a strange woman who lived alone on a tiny island off the coast and did not communicate with her daughter or granddaughter. Sandrine disembarks from the ship on the gray, cold island and meets the residents – old people living almost in complete isolation from civilization. A strange atmosphere reigns on the island. It takes Sandrine only a few hours to realize that the locals are hiding some secrets. But why does no one of them leave the island? What happened to the children from the holiday camp, hastily closed in 1949? A few days later, Sandrine is found wandering along the beach, in clothes soaked with someone else's blood… Prix Cognac 2019 Translated into 15 languages