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My Heart Hemmed In

of Marie NDiaye

available here

Synopsis

Nadia and her husband Ange live a quiet life as dedicated elementary school teachers in Bordeaux, France, until they begin to notice a strange and unexpected hostility from friends, neighbors, students, colleagues and everyone else in their town. From then on, with no apparent reason, the couple finds themselves isolated, and a series of strange events begin to unfold around them: Ange suffers a serious injury to her abdomen, an inconvenient neighbor starts keeping tabs on their food and needs, and Nadia watches her body and town transform in a disturbing way, on the blurred boundary between reality and fantasy.

Genres

why we recorded it

With a sober and dense style comparable to that of Kafka, My Heart Hemmed In is a surprising and terrifying novel, in which fear pulses through the subtle signs of violence on its pages. Marked by a lacerating sense of humor, Marie Ndiaye’s writing creates an environment of amorphous and unheard-of threats, in which shame, pride and suspense proliferate. Winner of the Goncourt Prize in 2009, the writer is one of the most prominent names in contemporary French literature. In this audiobook, produced by Supersônica under an exclusive license granted by Éditions Gallimard, the voice of actress Alice Carvalho becomes the only refuge in the midst of a complete loss of references, in which our trust in the protagonist’s account is soon put to the test.

My Heart Hemmed In is an unsettling but ultimately rewarding book. As Beatriz Bracher wrote, in a text on the cover of the Cosac Naify edition, translated by Paulo Neves: “After you finish reading this book, you will be a happier person than before you started reading it and certainly happier than while you are reading it.”

Marie NDiaye read by Alice Carvalho

Alice Carvalho is a Brazilian actress, playwright and screenwriter known for her independent and pioneering career. In 2023, she starred in Cangaço Novo, the first series to be screened at the Gramado Festival, for which she won the Prêmio Revelação from the São Paulo Art Critics Association (APCA) in the “Television” category and the Prêmio Potências. She is currently starring in the soap opera "Renascer" (Globo). Alice began her career writing drama for the theater. In 2016, she created and starred in the country’s first potiguar web series, "Septo", which received international recognition. Over the years, Alice has taken part in various projects in theater, cinema and television, as well as directing and scripting music videos for the band BaianaSystem. In 2025, she will make her debut in the GloboPlay soap opera "Guerreiros do Sol".

author Marie NDiaye

Marie NDiaye was born in Pithivier in 1967. The author of several books, she won the Prix Fémina in 2001 for "Rosie Carpe", the Prix Goncourt in 2009 for her novel "Trois femmes puissantes and the Marguerite Yourcenar" in 2020 for her body of work. Her play "Papa doit manger" was included in the Comédie Française’s repertoire in 2003.

hear an excerpt