La Mécanique du Sage (The Mechanics of the Sage) by Gabrielle Piquet

Les éditions Atrabile (2020). Angouleme FIBD Audacity Prize Winner. French language. From the publisher: "Edinburgh, early 20th century. Charles Hamilton has everything to be happy: a financial comfort that protects him from need, busy nights and idle days just enough. And yet, after the party, it's the descent. A victim of mood swings, ups and downs, Charles Hamilton feels alternating. Disappointed by love, Charles is nevertheless the father of a little Sophia, but does not see anything there to fill this existential void which inhabits him. What he needs is an example – a master, a sage, there, at the bottom of his garden. Inspired by the (real) story of Charles Hamilton and his "ornamental hermit", Gabrielle Piquet tracks down very modern evils – the search for perpetual well-being, unbridled positivism – and questions us about this dictatorship. happiness that would like to eradicate from our lives any form of roughness, as if life could not, should only be joy and bliss. We find in La Mécanique du Sage all the qualities that already made the charm of La Nuit du Misotrope : a drawing with retro influences all in elegance, a melodious writing of great finesse, with a bonus a touch of irony and a humor tongue-in-cheek with the most beautiful effect."