The Birthday Party

Buried deep in rural France, in the few remains of an isolated hamlet, is a curiously assembled quartet: Patrice Bergogne, inheritor of his family’s farm; his wife, Marion; their daughter, Ida; and their neighbour, Christine, an artist. While Patrice plans a surprise for his wife’s fortieth birthday, inexplicable events start to disrupt the hamlet’s quiet existence: anonymous, menacing letters, an unfamiliar car rolling up the driveway. And as night falls, strangers stalk the houses, unleashing a nightmarish chain of events.

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The Birthday Party is a strange and marvellous thing: a thriller in slow motion.

Jon McGregor

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Imagine a Stephen King thriller hijacked by Proust.

Lee Langley

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This astute thriller doesn’t disappoint.

Declan O’Driscoll

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What matters, as always in Mauvignier’s work, is giving a voice to the voiceless, the worthless, the unloved, the humiliated, even if this is done with unprecedented violence.

Jérôme Garcin

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