The Martins

by David Foenkinos

ISBN: 9781805333654

Published: 2025-10-28

A wryly funny story about a struggling Parisian writer who finds the heroine of his next novel right outside his apartment “Foenkinos is at his best in this playful novel” — Elle “A charming, clever book” — The Independent Is it true that every life is the stuff of novels? Or are some people just too ordinary? This is the question a struggling Parisian writer asks when he challenges himself to write about the first person he sees when he steps outside his apartment. Secretly hoping to meet the beautiful woman who occasionally smokes on his street, he instead sets eyes on octogenarian Madeleine. She's happy to become the subject of his project, but first she needs to put her shopping away. Is it really true, the writer wonders, that every life is the stuff of novels, or is his story doomed to be hopelessly banal? As he gets to know Madeleine and her family, he’ll be privy to their secrets: lost loves, marital problems and workplace worries. And he’ll soon realise he is not the...