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‘A brilliant novel… courageous, necessary and deeply touching’ Guardian

Edouard Louis grew up in a village in northern France where many live below the poverty line. His bestselling debut novel about life there, The End of Eddy, has sparked debate on social inequality, sexuality and violence.

It is an extraordinary portrait of escaping from an unbearable childhood, inspired by the author’s own. Written with an openness and compassionate intelligence, ultimately, it asks, how can we create our own freedom?

‘A mesmerising story about difference and adolescence’
New York Times

‘Edouard Louis…is that relatively rare thing – a novelist with something to say and a willingness to say it, without holding back’
The Times

‘Louis’ book has become the subject of political discussion in a way that novels rarely do’
Garth Greenwell, New Yorker

Publisher Review

"When new voices come from underrepresented constituencies, there's always the hope of a new perspective... I can read Edouard Louis and know something of what it means to grow up in extreme poverty in contemporary France" -- Zadie Smith * Observer * "When new voices come from underrepresented constituencies, there's always the hope of a new perspective... I can read Edouard Louis and know something of what it means to grow up in extreme poverty in contemporary France" -- Zadie Smith * Observer * "Even in the wake of Knausgaard and Ferrante it is hard to find a literary phenomenon that has swept Europe quite like the autobiographical project of Edouard Louis" * LitHub * "An extraordinary autobiographical novel about class, violence and sexuality in France. It's a vivid, often brutal but immensely touching book that restores my faith in the power of literature" -- Tash Aw "This is the courageous story of an outsider, in equal parts frank, provocative and compelling" -- Laura Garmeson * Financial Times *