The Franciscan Sisters: An Open Book – Valentine Goby, *Le palmier*

With *Le palmier*, a kaleidoscopic portrait of a wounded little girl, Valentine Goby has written a poetic and poignant novel that captures both enchantment and dread. Her book explores the realms of childhood, the world of perfumery, and the power of the imagination and writing.

Attuned to the secrets of childhood, Valentine Goby recounts the inner world of Vive, a wounded little girl growing up in Grasse amidst tenderness and the world of perfumes. Passionate about botany, she knows flowers, trees and scents, the result of a game devised by her father, a perfumer, who brings her mysterious vials. Perfume, by its very nature ephemeral, evaporates and fades away. Above all, here, it opens inner doors, resurrecting buried scenes, like an intimate memory, more immediate than words.

Winner of the 2008 Deauville City Prize for Books & Music, Valentine Goby has published more than fifteen novels with Gallimard and subsequently with Actes Sud, as well as numerous children’s books. On her return to Deauville, she led writing workshops and presented musical readings of *Kinderzimmer* (2013) and then *L’Île haute* (2020).