Mathilde has always been a headstrong woman. A member of the French resistance when she was just eighteen years old, she both impressed and horrified everyone with her cool capacity for violence. Now it is 1985 and Mathilde is in her sixties. She is not as glamorous as she once was, but she continues to take great pride in all that she does. Recently, however, the sixty-three-year-old has been affected by loss of memory and erratic changes in mood that even her exasperated dog Ludo has noticed. This is a potentially dangerous situation, since Mathilde now makes her living as a contract killer...

'Literature with conviction; a furious talent' L'Obs The first volume of THE GLORIOUS YEARS series, translated by Frank Wynne Beirut, 1948. The Pelletier family returns... The Pelletiers are a prominent French family living in Beirut. The patriarch, Louis, has built a successful business manufacturing and exporting artisanal soaps. He hoped to pass the business on to his eldest son, Jean, but Jean doesn't have the sharpness or aptitude for such an enterprise. After nearly running the company into the ground, Jean marries a money-grubbing young woman who quickly makes him miserable, and they emigrate to Paris. But there's another reason Jean must leave - he has committed a terrible crime... His brother, Etienne, travels to Saigon, where he soon uncovers irregularities in the local currency office and begins investigating what he believes is a scheme to channel smuggled goods and cash to the Viet Minh. It is evidence that presents a real threat to his own life. François, the middle Pelletier brother, has gone to Paris, ostensibly to study, but finds himself working as a journalist. His career flies when he reports on the brutal murder of an actress in a cinema ladies' room. It seems a serial killer is on the loose. 'You have the ingredients Balzac would have cooked with. And it is exactly those great 19th century novels that Lemaitre will remind you of' Sunday Times 'Pierre Lemaitre skilfully captivates and stuns the reader' Le Figaro

"Terrific . . . Easily the most purely entertaining novel I have read so far this year" David Mills, The Sunday Times "A really excellent suspense novelist" Stephen King The second volume of Pierre Lemaitre's enthralling, award-winning between-the-wars trilogy In 1927, the great and the good of Paris gather at the funeral of the wealthy banker, Marcel Péricourt. His daughter, Madeleine, is poised to take over his financial empire (although, unfortunately, she knows next to nothing about banking). More unfortunately still, when Madeleine's seven-year-old son, Paul, tumbles from a second floor window of the Péricourt mansion on the day of his grandfather's funeral, and suffers life-changing injuries, his fall sets off a chain of events that will reduce Madeleine to destitution and ruin in a matter of months. Using all her reserves of ingenuity, resourcefulness, and a burning desire for retribution, Madeleine sets about rebuilding her life. She will be helped by an ex-Communist fixer, a Polish nurse who doesn't speak a word of French, a brainless petty criminal with a talent for sabotage, an exiled German Jewish chemist, a very expensive forger, an opera singer with a handy flair for theatrics, and her own son with ideas for a creative new business to take Paris by storm. A brilliant, imaginative, free-falling caper through between-the-wars Paris, and a portrait of Europe on the edge of disaster. Translated from the French by Frank Wynne Frank Wynne is an award-winning writer and translator. His previous translations include works by Virginie Despentes, Javier Cercas and Michel Houellebecq. His translation of Vernon Subutex I was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize. With the support of the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union From the reviews for The Great Swindle "The most purely enjoyable book I've read this year" Jake Kerridge, Sunday Telegraph "The vast sweep of the novel and its array of extraordinary secondary characters have attracted comparisons with the works of Balzac. Moving, angry, intelligent - and compulsive" Marcel Berlins, The Times

Alain Delambre is a 57-year-old former HR executive, drained by four years of hopeless unemployment. All he is offered are small, demoralizing jobs. He has reached his very lowest ebb, and can see no way out. So when a major company finally invites him to an interview, Alain Delambre is ready to do anything, borrow money, shame his wife and his daughters and even participate in the ultimate recruitment test: a role-playing game that involves hostage-taking. Alain Delambre commits body and soul in this struggle to regain his dignity. But if he suddenly realised that the dice had been loaded against him from the start, his fury would be limitless. And what began as a role-play game could quickly become a bloodbath.

"Tremendous and enjoyable" - La Libre Belgique "A great success" - La Croix April, 1940. Louise Belmont runs, naked, down the boulevard du Montparnasse. To understand the tragic scene she has just experienced, she will have to plunge into the madness of the 'Phoney War', when the whole of France, seized by the panic of a new World War, descends into chaos. Alongside bistro-owner Monsieur Jules, new recruit Gabriel and small-time crook Raoul, Louise navigates this period of enormous upheaval and extraordinary twists of fate, for as the Nazi's advance, the threat of German occupation will uncover long-buried secrets and make strange bedfellows. With his characteristic wit and verve, Pierre Lemaitre chronicles the greatness and decline of a people crushed by circumstance. In Mirror of Our Sorrows, the final novel in the Paris between-the-wars trilogy, is an incandescent tale that is both burlesque and tragic. Translated from the French by Frank Wynne

'Literature with conviction; a furious talent' L'Obs The first volume of THE GLORIOUS YEARS series, translated by Frank Wynne Beirut, 1948. The Pelletier family returns... The Pelletiers are a prominent French family living in Beirut. The patriarch, Louis, has built a successful business manufacturing and exporting artisanal soaps. He hoped to pass the business on to his eldest son, Jean, but Jean doesn't have the sharpness or aptitude for such an enterprise. After nearly running the company into the ground, Jean marries a money-grubbing young woman who quickly makes him miserable, and they emigrate to Paris. But there's another reason Jean must leave - he has committed a terrible crime... His brother, Etienne, travels to Saigon, where he soon uncovers irregularities in the local currency office and begins investigating what he believes is a scheme to channel smuggled goods and cash to the Viet Minh. It is evidence that presents a real threat to his own life. François, the middle Pelletier brother, has gone to Paris, ostensibly to study, but finds himself working as a journalist. His career flies when he reports on the brutal murder of an actress in a cinema ladies' room. It seems a serial killer is on the loose. 'You have the ingredients Balzac would have cooked with. And it is exactly those great 19th century novels that Lemaitre will remind you of' Sunday Times 'Pierre Lemaitre skilfully captivates and stuns the reader' Le Figaro

The first epic novel in THE GLORIOUS YEARS series from the two times winner of the prestigious Prix-Goncourt 'You have the ingredients Balzac would have cooked with. And it is exactly those great 19th century novels that Lemaitre will remind you of' Sunday Times The Pelletiers are a prominent French family living in Beirut, dominated by Louis, who has built a hugely successful business manufacturing artisanal soaps. Louis has three sons, but none seems to have the aptitude for commerce he desires. There's Jean, the eldest, a feckless man who is both lazy and weak. When his ambitious wife suggests a move to France, he jumps at the chance for escape - for Jean has a secret that no-one must ever uncover. Etienne is the youngest son, who travels to Saigon looking for love, and there uncovers financial corruption and violence linked to the very highest officials - evidence that presents a real threat to his own life. François, the middle Pelletier brother, leaves for Paris and becomes a journalist. When he reports a shocking and brutal murder, he realises he's uncovered the work of a dangerous serial killer, one who may be very close to home. Absorbing, colourful and rich with no-holds-barred detail, THE WIDE WORLD is a terrific novel of greed, blackmail, and shocking crime. 'Literature with conviction; a furious talent' L'Obs

Sophie is haunted by the things she can't remember - and visions from the past she will never forget. One morning, she wakes to find that the little boy in her care is dead. She has no memory of what happened. And whatever the truth, her side of the story is no match for the evidence piled against her. Her only hiding place is in a new identity. A new life, with a man she has met online. But Sophie is not the only one keeping secrets . . . For fans of Gone Girl and Lemaitre's own internationally bestselling Alex, Blood Wedding is a compelling psychological thriller with a formidable female protagonist. Translated from the French by Frank Wynne

"Tremendous and enjoyable" - La Libre Belgique "A great success" - La Croix April, 1940. Louise Belmont runs, naked, down the boulevard du Montparnasse. To understand the tragic scene she has just experienced, she will have to plunge into the madness of the 'Phoney War', when the whole of France, seized by the panic of a new World War, descends into chaos. Alongside bistro-owner Monsieur Jules, new recruit Gabriel and small-time crook Raoul, Louise navigates this period of enormous upheaval and extraordinary twists of fate, for as the Nazi's advance, the threat of German occupation will uncover long-buried secrets and make strange bedfellows. With his characteristic wit and verve, Pierre Lemaitre chronicles the greatness and decline of a people crushed by circumstance. In Mirror of Our Sorrows, the final novel in the Paris between-the-wars trilogy, is an incandescent tale that is both burlesque and tragic. Translated from the French by Frank Wynne

A gripping addition to Lemaitre's award-winning Paris trilogy - Irene, Alex and Camille Jean Garnier lives on the fringes - a lonely nobody who has lost everything dear to him. His girlfriend was killed in an unexplained accident, his mother has just been sent to prison - he has even lost his job after the sudden death of his boss. In one last, desperate cry for help, Jean sets up seven lethal bombs, hidden all over Paris and timed so that one will explode every 24 hours. After the first detonation, Jean gives himself up to the police. He has one simple demand: his mother must be released, or the daily explosions will continue. Camille Verhoeven is faced with a race against time to uncover the secrets of this troubled young man and avert a massive human disaster. Lemaitre's Camille Verhoeven Trilogy - Alex, Irene and Camille - has been a multiple winner of the CWA International Dagger. Translated from the French by Frank Wynne

The second volume of Pierre Lemaitre's enthralling, award-winning between-the-wars trilogy

February, 1927. The great and the good of Paris gather to attend the funeral of the powerful millionaire, Marcel Pericourt. His daughter, Madeleine, is poised to take charge of his financial empire, but it seems fate has other plans for her. Her young son, Paul, with one unexpected and tragic act, will place Madeleine on the path to ruin and degradation.

Faced with the adversity of men, the greed of her time, the corruption and the ambition of her associates, Madeleine will have to deploy reserves of intelligence, determination and also a Machiavellian instinct to survive and rebuild her life. This task is made all the more difficult in a France that can only watch, helpless, as the first flames of the inferno that will soon ravage Europe begin to take hold.

Translated from the French by Frank Wynne

LONGLISTED FOR THE CWA INTERNATIONAL DAGGER 2018 Antoine is twelve years old. His parents are divorced and he lives with his mother in Beauval, a small, backwater town surrounded by forests, where everyone knows everyone's business, and nothing much ever happens. But in the last days of 1999, a series of events unfolds, culminating in the shocking vanishing without trace of a young child. The adults of the town are at a loss to explain the disappearance, but for Antoine, it all begins with the violent death of his neighbour's dog. From that one brutal act, his fate and the fate of his neighbour's six year old son are bound forever. In the years following Remi's disappearance, Antoine wrestles with the role his actions played. As a seemingly inescapable net begins to tighten, breaking free from the suffocating environs of Beauval becomes a gnawing obsession. But how far does he have to run, and how long will it take before his past catches up with him again? Translated from the French by Frank Wynne

Now a major French film Au revoir la-haut - Prix Goncourt-winning masterpiece by the writer who brought you Alex, Irene and Camille. "One of the most pleasurable reading experiences of recent years" - David Mills, The Sunday Times October 1918: the war on the Western Front is all but over. Desperate for one last chance of promotion, the ambitious Lieutenant Henri d'Aulnay Pradelle sends two scouts over the top, and secretly shoots them in the back to incite his men to heroic action once more. And so is set in motion a series of devastating events that will inextricably bind together the fates and fortunes of Pradelle and the two soldiers who witness his crime: Albert Maillard and Edouard Pericourt. Back in civilian life, Albert and Edouard struggle to adjust to a society whose reverence for its dead cannot quite match its resentment for those who survived. But the two soldiers conspire to enact an audacious form of revenge against the country that abandoned them to penury and despair, with a scheme to swindle the whole of France on an epic scale. Meanwhile, believing her brother killed in action, Edouard's sister Madeleine has married Pradelle, who is running a little scam of his own... Translated from the French by Frank Wynne

"Terrific . . . Easily the most purely entertaining novel I have read so far this year" David Mills, The Sunday Times "A really excellent suspense novelist" Stephen King The second volume of Pierre Lemaitre's enthralling, award-winning between-the-wars trilogy In 1927, the great and the good of Paris gather at the funeral of the wealthy banker, Marcel Pericourt. His daughter, Madeleine, is poised to take over his financial empire (although, unfortunately, she knows next to nothing about banking). More unfortunately still, when Madeleine's seven-year-old son, Paul, tumbles from a second floor window of the Pericourt mansion on the day of his grandfather's funeral, and suffers life-changing injuries, his fall sets off a chain of events that will reduce Madeleine to destitution and ruin in a matter of months. Using all her reserves of ingenuity, resourcefulness, and a burning desire for retribution, Madeleine sets about rebuilding her life. She will be helped by an ex-Communist fixer, a Polish nurse who doesn't speak a word of French, a brainless petty criminal with a talent for sabotage, an exiled German Jewish chemist, a very expensive forger, an opera singer with a handy flair for theatrics, and her own son with ideas for a creative new business to take Paris by storm. A brilliant, imaginative, free-falling caper through between-the-wars Paris, and a portrait of Europe on the edge of disaster. Translated from the French by Frank Wynne With the support of the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union From the reviews for The Great Swindle "The most purely enjoyable book I've read this year" Jake Kerridge, Sunday Telegraph "The vast sweep of the novel and its array of extraordinary secondary characters have attracted comparisons with the works of Balzac. Moving, angry, intelligent - and compulsive" Marcel Berlins, The Times

The considerable growth of RFID is currently accompanied by the development of numerous identification technologies that complement those already available while seeking to answer new problems. Chipless RFID is one example. The goal is to both significantly reduce the price of the tag and increase the amount of information it contains, in order to compete with the barcode while retaining the benefits of a flexible reading approach based on radio communication. To solve the problem of the number of bits, this book describes the possibility of coding the information at the level of the overall shape of the RCS of the tag, which would facilitate reaching very large quantities. The design of the tags then returns to the resolution of the inverse problem of the electromagnetic signature. The proposed design methodology regularizes the problem by decomposing the signature on a basis of elementary patterns whose signature is chosen in advance.

MEET COMMANDANT CAMILLE VERHOEVEN OF THE PARIS POLICE WITH NOTHING ELSE TO LOSE Anne Forestier finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time when she blunders into a raid on a jeweller's on the Champs-Elysees. Bludgeoned beyond recognition, she is lucky to survive. But her ordeal has only just begun. HE CAN BREAK ALL THE RULES Lying helpless in her hospital bed, with her assailant still at large, Anne is in mortal danger. Only one thing gives her hope: Commandant Camille Verhoeven. TO PROTECT THE WOMAN HE LOVES For Verhoeven it's a case of history repeating itself. He cannot lose Anne as he lost his wife. This time he faces an adversary whose greatest strength appears to be Verhoeven's matchless powers of intuition. Winner of the 2015 C.W.A. International Dagger

Alain Delambre is a 57-year-old former HR executive, drained by four years of hopeless unemployment. All he is offered are small, demoralizing jobs. He has reached his very lowest ebb, and can see no way out. So when a major company finally invites him to an interview, Alain Delambre is ready to do anything, borrow money, shame his wife and his daughters and even participate in the ultimate recruitment test: a role-playing game that involves hostage-taking. Alain Delambre commits body and soul in this struggle to regain his dignity. But if he suddenly realised that the dice had been loaded against him from the start, his fury would be limitless. And what began as a role-play game could quickly become a bloodbath.

"Tremendous and enjoyable" - La Libre Belgique "A great success" - La Croix April, 1940. Louise Belmont runs, naked, down the boulevard du Montparnasse. To understand the tragic scene she has just experienced, she will have to plunge into the madness of the 'Phoney War', when the whole of France, seized by the panic of a new World War, descends into chaos. Alongside bistro-owner Monsieur Jules, new recruit Gabriel and small-time crook Raoul, Louise navigates this period of enormous upheaval and extraordinary twists of fate, for as the Nazi's advance, the threat of German occupation will uncover long-buried secrets and make strange bedfellows. With his characteristic wit and verve, Pierre Lemaitre chronicles the greatness and decline of a people crushed by circumstance. In Mirror of Our Sorrows, the final novel in the Paris between-the-wars trilogy, is an incandescent tale that is both burlesque and tragic. Translated from the French by Frank Wynne

THE NOVELIST KILLS BY THE BOOK For Commandant Camille Verhoeven life is beautiful. He is happily married and soon to become a father. HE'S ALWAYS ONE CHAPTER AHEAD But his blissful existence is punctured by a murder of unprecedented savagery. When his team discovers that the killer has form - and each murder is a homage to a classic crime novel - the Parisian press are quick to coin a nickname . . . The Novelist. HE HATES HAPPY ENDINGS With the public eye fixed on both hunter and hunted, the case develops into a personal duel, each hell-bent on outsmarting the other. There can only be one winner. The one who has the least to lose.