A man's quest to bring new life to a desolate world "In this radiantly beautiful book, Sandrine Collette achieves a perfect balance between horror and beauty, finding poetry even in the dust."-ELLE Nobody wanted Corentin. His father left him, his mother dreams of getting rid of him. Dragged from home to home, his childhood is an aimless pilgrimage, until the day his mother leaves him with old Augustine. Life begins anew for him. Deep into the remote, verdant Valley of the Forests, Corentin finds the care and love he's been missing. When he grows up and moves to the city, Corentin immerses himself in the dazzling pleasures and distractions of urban life. But all around him, the world is on fire. Temperatures rise, rivers dry up, trees shed their leaves in June: a catastrophe is brewing. The night the worst happens, Corentin survives, hidden in the depths of the city's catacombs. When he emerges, he finds a devastated landscape devoid of life. Human, tree, or beast: nothing is left. But Corentin, armed only with hope, sets off on a journey to find Augustine.

A primal tale of cruelty and redemption The family farm has run to ruin. Rafael's father has abandoned them. His older brothers, the twins Mauro and Joaquin, blame Rafael for their father's departure and exact revenge on their baby brother. Steban, Rafael's other sibling, is a simpleton whose affections and allegiances change with the shifting winds. Ruling over this dysfunctional roost is a tyrannical and avaricious mother. There is nothing bucolic about existence on a dilapidated farm on the lonely Patagonian steppe. Life is ruthless, unforgiving, and bloody. As the family tensions mount, daily life degenerates into open warfare, revealing dark truths about the human soul. For readers of Coetzee's Disgrace, the writing of Dorothy Alison, and the southern gothic of William Faulkner, Nothing but Dust is a gripping, unsentimental, ultimately majestic story about life in one of the most inhospitable places on Earth.

A post-apocalyptic tale of environmental disaster and impossible choices OVER 30,000 COPIES SOLD IN FRANCE "A wrenching exploration of the consequences of survival." - Kirkus Reviews "An engrossing fable in which families and societies unravel and are refashioned." - ForeWord Reviews A small boat, alone on the furious ocean. A family stranded on an island, battered by waves on all sides. A decision which looms, unavoidable, on the horizon. When a volcano collapses in the ocean and generates a tidal wave of biblical proportions, the world disappears around Louie, his parents and his eight siblings. Their house, perched on a summit, stands firm. A far as the eye can see there is only silver water shaken, like jolts of rage, by violent storms. It is shaken by violent storms, like jolts of rage. A remarkable story of destruction, resilience, love, and the invisible but powerful links that bind a family together. "Just After the Wave is a fable for today, as well as a wrenching story of love and survival. Sandrine Collette has reached deep into past fairy tales and modern reality to create a novel that's a stunning, resonant wake-up call." - Shelf Awareness