The winner of European Crime Fiction Prize and the French Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, The Godmother is a fiery, funny and startlingly original tale from the banlieues of Paris. When Patience – a hardworking French-Arabic police translator and longstanding witness to the ubiquitous racism and repression of the system – is let go without a pension or reward for her 25 years of service, there’s only one thing to do: change sides. Deliciously bold, riotous and teeming with exquisite characters, The Godmother is the crime novel everyone is talking about, and has recently been adapted for the screen as Mama Weed, starring Isabelle Huppert.
Winner of the CWA Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger 2020
Winner of the European Crime Fiction Prize
Winner of the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere
Meet Patience Portefeux - 53 years old, widowed mother of two, fluent Arabic speaker, upstanding French citizen... and soon to become The Godmother.
For 25 years she has toiled honestly, translating police wire-taps of north African drug gangs. She knows she's just a footsoldier in a senseless politicians' war against high-grade hashish, a tiny cog in the state machinery of racism and repression. But it's always paid the bills - until now.
The scrimping French state pays its translators 'off the books', meaning there'll be no pension to reward her long years of service. With her mother's extortionate care home eating her savings, a lonely and impoverished old age lies ahead. So when Patience gets the chance to take possession of a vast stash of top-quality Moroccan Khardala, she doesn't hesitate long. Exit the grey-suited civil servant. Enter The Godmother. Life in the banlieues will never be the same again.
Publisher: Old Street Publishing
ISBN: 9781910400968
A delightfully written novel about one woman's journey through life, written with a sly dark humour that will catch you unexpectedly. I really enjoyed this, Patience was a great character and I loved reading... More
This is quite a short book, rattles along and is a very easy read. Despite the officially-dodgy subject matter (drug dealers, murderous gangster parents, etc.), Cayre has a lightness of touch that turns this into... More
Middle aged widow Patience Portefeux works hard in France as an Arabic interpreter for the Ministry of Defence. Although she loves her job, interpreters are paid under the wire resulting in no pension. Widow Patience... More
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