Wind Drinkers

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A thrilling mix of French noir & American Western that charts a family’s struggle for freedom & justice in a hostile mountain community.

In the godforsaken valley of the Black Rimstone, four siblings meet by the viaduct, a place of their own away from home & daily life, which hold so little for them: Mark, who reads in secret against his father’s orders; Matthew, who understands the forest, the river, & all their creatures; Mabel, who wields her stunning beauty in pursuit of pleasure & independence; & Luke, so often pitied & dismissed as simpleminded, but whose fantastic dreams reveal an uncommon wisdom. Together they live as one, bound by an unshakable bond.

Hanging over them, & the rest of the valley, is the bleak prospect of work in the power plant, constructed & controlled by the fearsome Joyce. Having arrived a stranger, he owned the entire town within ten years, & now keeps a stranglehold on it through money & violence. But after generations are used & spit out in service of one man’s greed, there comes a breaking point.

Winner of the Prix Jean Giono, this masterful, parable-like novel bears witness to the power of nature & the promise of rebellion.

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Franck Bouysse was born in France in 1965. He began his writing career in 2007 after working as a biology teacher. His novel Born of No Woman (Other Press, 2021) won numerous literary prizes in France, including the Elle Readers’ Grand Prize, the Booksellers’ Prize, & the Prix Babelio. His following novel, Wind Drinkers (Other Press, 2023), won the Prix Jean Giono.