All the Way

A powerful, hilarious and achingly honest story about a young French girl discovering her sexuality.

Solange wants to have sex. Will it be with one of the boys at school? The exchange student? The fireman she meets at the disco when she sneaks out one night? Or with Arnaud, the coolest boy she knows?

She'd like to see more of her father, even though he's so embarrassing. As for her mother, she's too depressed. Something to do with the photo of the dead boy on the mantelpiece.

Monsieur Bihotz, her neighbour who lives alone now his mother has died, is supposed to be her babysitter but Solange has other ideas. There's really not much scope in her boring village, Cleves.

But who cares, Solange will get to do it, go all the way, whatever it takes.

Marie Darrieussecq's All the Way is a brilliant and hilarious picture of an adolescent girl.

Marie Darrieussecq was born in 1969 in Bayonne, France. Her debut novel, Pig Tales was published in thirty-four countries. Four other novels have also been translated into English, My Phantom Husband, A Brief Stay with the Living, White and Tom Is Dead. Marie Darrieussecq lives in Paris with her husband and children.

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'Another astonishing work by Darrieussecq. All the Way is a stunning achievement.' M. J. Hyland

'A dreamy and daring narrative.' Courier Mail and Daily Telegraph

'Explicit, funny and unsentimental, All the Way captures what it's like to be under-age and out of your mind with desire. Darrieussecq is a sublime writer with real insight.' Saturday Age and Sydney Morning Herald

'Darrieussecq is excellent at evoking the ever-shifting boundaries of the adolescent world. She also poignantly depicts the complexities of parent-child relationships and their often turbulent period during adolescence.' Weekend Australian

'[A] sharp, funny and honest description of a girl coming to grips with her blooming sexuality.' Herald Sun

'All the Way offers insight into the confusing world of adolescence and sexual awakening and is unsettling in its honesty.' Launceston Examiner

'Darrieussecq is not afraid to break social taboos, nor does she flinch from the utter selfishness that accompanies adolescence...sad, funny and challenging.' Otago Daily Times

'There are few writers who may have changed my perception of the world, but Darrieussecq is one of them.' The Times

'The internationally celebrated author who illuminates those parts of life other writers cannot or do not want to reach.' Independent