The Hat of Victor Noir

Philip Kovacs, a teacher in Paris, returns to his flat to find the smell of his own fear in the air. Nearby, a woman at the tomb of Victor Noir, a 19th-century journalist, leaves a letter bearing Kovacs's name in the hat lying beside Noir's effigy. For Kovacs, the nightmare has only just begun. This novel transports the reader to a Paris by turns vividly real and strangely dream-like. Provocative, intellectually playful and sparkling with black comedy, this extraordinarily impressive debut intrigues, thrills and enchants in equal measure.