COMING SOON · DYSTOPIAN NOVEL

La Douceur des bourreaux

They wanted to save lives. Power asks them to choose.

The survivors of Rive-Neuve have gained a reprieve. Yet a missing guarantee or an excessive delay can still block access to care. Alma tries to unite the protest movement, Garance negotiates with the family group and Nora grows attached to an artificial voice. In this imagined 2047, change reaches both contracts and private life. Forthcoming in French.

Coming soon · Book in French

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ENTER THE STORY

Changing the rules means getting close to them.

Explore the collection: Forthcoming books

The second volume continues Les Vies de réserve. Identifying a problem is no longer enough: the characters need decisions, treatments and negotiations with people whose power they challenge. In this fictional future, an American crisis weakens the clinics. Urgency makes individual concessions defensible while their accumulation threatens the relationships that made action possible.

A golden engraving of a treatment chair and a robotic arm against dark alloy. — World illustration · La Douceur des bourreaux

A clinic entrance engraved in gold metal.

Daily life under guarantees

Robots welcome patients and files circulate. Treatments exist. But appointment times, renewals and access conditions continue to shape ordinary lives.

A golden engraving of a treatment chair and a robotic arm.

Compromises that commit other people

Garance understands her family’s group from within. Alma expects commitment. Their disagreements gain urgency when one decision can protect somebody while leaving another person waiting.

Engraved archives, a disc and sound waves against a dark background.

A voice that makes silence harder

Nora finds comfort in an artificial voice. Technology enters experiences of absence, memory and the familiar habits of an evening.

An empty armchair, paper archives and a small voice assistant in a Paris apartment at dusk. — Original illustration inspired by the fictional world; not an interior book page.

A FUTURE AT HUMAN SCALE

What we accept to hear a voice again.

Artificial intelligence is part of relationships and ways of living with absence. Comfort can become a habit and then a dependency. This intimate tension echoes the public negotiations: in both cases, giving up protection has a cost that is hard to measure from outside. The image evokes that theme without depicting a specific scene from the novel.

THE PLEASURE OF READING

The second movement of a continuing story.

Read Les Vies de réserve first: the alliances and injuries of 2047 begin in volume one. La Douceur des bourreaux is for readers interested in moral dilemmas, divided loyalties and the difficulty of turning convictions into action. This English introduction describes a forthcoming French novel, not a published English translation.

CONTINUE THE DISCOVERY

The intimate cost of a reasonable decision

A concession may look acceptable in isolation. The novel considers what happens when it joins earlier concessions in a life that cannot start over. Promises, obligations and necessary care complicate the judgments the characters make about themselves.

The second volume brings readers close both to people negotiating and to those waiting for an answer. Political decisions acquire duration, faces and family consequences. Sharing an objective does not remove disagreement about how to pursue it.

BEFORE OPENING THE BOOK

Your questions.

When will volume two be published?

La Douceur des bourreaux is forthcoming. No release date or preorder is announced here. Its Amazon reference will be added after publication is confirmed.

Can I start with this volume?

The story directly continues Les Vies de réserve. The recommended order is volumes I, II and III.

What role does AI play?

It supports everyday services and also affects emotional dependency through an artificial voice. The novel remains focused on human characters.

Is an English edition announced?

No English edition is announced on this site. This page introduces the forthcoming French-language book.

YOUR NEXT BOOK

How much can you concede to bring about change?

The book is in preparation. Return here for publication information.

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