Description

FROM THE WINNER OF THE PRIX GONCOURT 2023

Described as ‘unforgettable’ by the Mail on Sunday, A Hundred Million Years and a Day is a pocket-sized epic adventure story of a professor’s journey to an Alpine glacier.

‘Powerful’ Sunday Times

When he hears a story about a huge dinosaur fossil locked deep inside an Alpine glacier, university professor Stan finds a childhood dream reignited. Whatever it takes, he is determined to find the buried treasure.

But Stan is no mountaineer and must rely on the help of old friend Umberto, who brings his eccentric young assistant, Peter, and cautious mountain guide Gio. Time is short: they must complete their expedition before winter sets in. As bonds are forged and tested on the mountainside, and the lines between determination and folly are blurred, the hazardous quest for the Earth’s lost creatures becomes a journey into Stan’s own past.

This breathless, heartbreaking epic-in-miniature speaks to the adventurer within us all.

Publisher Review

SHORTLISTED FOR THE PRIX JOSEPH KESSEL 2020 SHORTLISTED FOR THE GRAND PRIX DE L'ACADEMIE FRANCAISE 2019 SHORTLISTED FOR THE GRAND PRIX DES BLOGUEURS LITTERAIRES 2019 'A sublime and beautiful book' Carys Davies 'Every line is golden. It's impossible to describe it without selling it short. It is a small, perfect thing, beautiful and devastating' Sara Taylor 'Spare, elegant and poetic, this slender novel is quietly devastating' Daily Mail 'Breathless and heartbreaking . . . Tracing a treasure that waits just out of reach, A Hundred Million Years and a Day speaks to the adventurers within us all' Foreword Reviews 'Using beautiful imagery and poetic language, Andrea takes us to the mountains for an adventure that is as cruel as it is magical' Le Figaro 'Gripping and poetic, it keeps you hooked until the final page' La Croix 'Under Jean-Baptiste Andrea's skilled penmanship, the alpine adventure novel becomes a moving tale of personal discovery, and the fossil, a brilliant metaphor for the search for perfection' Le Nouveau Magazine Litteraire 'The author's voice has the imagination to move mountains, but shows an awareness that the journey means more than the destination. We're with the narrator every step of the way, admiring his determination to fulfil his dream' Liberation 'Go and buy it now. . . Andrea's beautiful words are both heartrending and comforting' Telematin 'The poetry of the language and intensity of feeling give nature an intoxicating splendour' Le Matricule des Anges