Petronille

With wry humor and a deceptively simple style, Amélie Nothomb, the author of over twenty-three best-selling novels tells an unusual story about twin abiding passions: one for champagne, and the other for a riotous friendship between her protagonist and Pétronille Fanto, a woman who refuses to drink alone.

This is a funny, moving, "exotic" novel about travel, France, champagne, and, above all, about women's friendship. The on-again/off-again friendship between Pétronille and the main character in the book, who happens to be a writer by the name of Amélie Nothomb, gives the story its verve and the novel its heart. This is literary Thelma & Louise, with a little bit of French panache and a whole lot of champagne thrown in.

Amélie Nothomb is one of Europe's most successful and talked about authors. Hygeine and the Assassin, her first published novel, was published when she was only twenty-five and since then she has become a cult figure, occupying a unique position in the world of French and European fiction. Delightful and witty, Pétronille is further proof of Nothomb's versatility and brilliance.