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Overview
July 2026 Indie Next Pick
Publishers Weekly Most Anticipated Book
Val rie Perrin's First New Novel since her breakout bestseller Fresh Water for Flowers
"Val rie Perrin is a prodigious storyteller."--Elle
"Tata is Perrin's most ambitious, most intimate, most liberating, most important book yet."--Le Parisien
When Agnes hears from the local police her Aunt Colette has died, she can't believe her ears. Her father's sister Colette, her Tata, died three years ago and has been resting in peace in the cemetery of Gueugnon.
Agnes is called to identify the body: there is no doubt, it's Aunt Colette. But then, who rests under the stone engraved with Colette's name? And why did she fake her own death? So begins an investigation back in time, as Agnes pieces together the multitude of stories that lie behind her aunt's second death.
An intricate, compelling web of stories told with irony, delicacy and depth, Tata will keep readers glued to every page.
★ "A bewitching novel about found family and the transformative power of love."--Foreword Reviews (starred)
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Details
- ISBN-13: 9798889661825
- ISBN-10: 9798889661825
- Publisher: Europa Editions
- Publish Date: June 2026
- Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
- Page Count: 592
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For English-language readers of French author Valérie Perrin’s Fresh Water for Flowers and Forgotten on Sunday, awaiting the translation of Perrin’s novel Tata, by Hildegarde Serle, has been an exercise in patience—but here we finally are. Titled the French word for auntie, Tata is an exquisitely layered story that chronicles the lives of Agnes Dugain and her aunt, Colette Septembre. The story begins with a hook that is more crime thriller than domestic story. In late October 2010, Agnes receives an unexpected call from the police at her Paris apartment informing her that Aunt Colette was found dead in the provincial town of Gueugnon. For Agnes, the shock is immense—not just because she loved Colette, but because as far as she knew, Colette had died three years before. The only child of a violinist and pianist, Agnes had spent her childhood summers at Colette’s shoe repair shop in Gueugnon. Now, at almost 40, film director Agnes has no new movies on the horizon and is coming out of a divorce from the love of her life. Though she’s in no way prepared for this revelation, Agnes heads to Gueugnon to identify Colette’s body and try for some understanding of why her quiet, restrained and ordinary aunt would fake her own death. The unraveling of the truth occurs in alternating threads of Agnes’ investigations in the present and flashbacks narrated by Colette. To be alive is to experience sadness, Perrin reminds us. In Agnes, we see a struggle typical to modern life, revolving around career, recognition, parenting and marriage. For Colette, the struggle is more primal. Perrin hits the right notes with both, neither over- nor underplaying their joys and sorrows. Perrin crafts her characters with details that are transportive and tear-inducingly emotional, especially the young Colette, who had a destitute upbringing, and a relentless love for her brother Jean (Agnes’ father). Her vast cast of supporting characters is truly magical, too, each with their foibles and fortitude, livening the debate over whether what sustains us are ties of blood or ties of humanity. The mystery of Colette’s two deaths holds everything together throughout. Thanks to the richness of its parallel stories and its excellent variety of characters, reading Tata is like reading several great novels at once.
For English-language readers of French author Valérie Perrin’s Fresh Water for Flowers and Forgotten on Sunday, awaiting the translation of Perrin’s novel Tata, by Hildegarde Serle, has been an exercise in patience—but here we finally are. Titled the French word for auntie, Tata is an exquisitely layered story that chronicles the lives of Agnes Dugain and her aunt, Colette Septembre. The story begins with a hook that is more crime thriller than domestic story. In late October 2010, Agnes receives an unexpected call from the police at her Paris apartment informing her that Aunt Colette was found dead in the provincial town of Gueugnon. For Agnes, the shock is immense—not just because she loved Colette, but because as far as she knew, Colette had died three years before. The only child of a violinist and pianist, Agnes had spent her childhood summers at Colette’s shoe repair shop in Gueugnon. Now, at almost 40, film director Agnes has no new movies on the horizon and is coming out of a divorce from the love of her life. Though she’s in no way prepared for this revelation, Agnes heads to Gueugnon to identify Colette’s body and try for some understanding of why her quiet, restrained and ordinary aunt would fake her own death. The unraveling of the truth occurs in alternating threads of Agnes’ investigations in the present and flashbacks narrated by Colette. To be alive is to experience sadness, Perrin reminds us. In Agnes, we see a struggle typical to modern life, revolving around career, recognition, parenting and marriage. For Colette, the struggle is more primal. Perrin hits the right notes with both, neither over- nor underplaying their joys and sorrows. Perrin crafts her characters with details that are transportive and tear-inducingly emotional, especially the young Colette, who had a destitute upbringing, and a relentless love for her brother Jean (Agnes’ father). Her vast cast of supporting characters is truly magical, too, each with their foibles and fortitude, livening the debate over whether what sustains us are ties of blood or ties of humanity. The mystery of Colette’s two deaths holds everything together throughout. Thanks to the richness of its parallel stories and its excellent variety of characters, reading Tata is like reading several great novels at once.