Clare Hall Book Club

Join the College’s Book Club as they discuss La Vie Devant Soi by Romain Gary (Émile Ajar).

Published under the name Émile Ajar, the novel won the Prix Goncourt in 1975. It tells the story of the love between a young Arab boy and a very elderly Jewish woman. Momo struggles with the six flights of stairs that Madame Rosa can no longer climb, and with life itself, because “it is unforgiving” and because “you don’t need a reason to be afraid”.

The boy helps her hide in her “Jewish hideaway”, so that she will not have to die in hospital and can exercise the sacred “right of peoples to self-determination”, a right that the medical establishment refuses to respect. He stays with her until she dies, and even beyond death.

All College members are welcome to attend in-person, meeting in Clare Hall’s Meeting Room, or via Zoom. If you are not on the mailing list and would like to be, please send an email to gloria.carnevali@icloud.com, confirming your Clare Hall connection and putting the following as the email title: I would like to join the Book Club mailing list.

Learn more about the Book Club on this page.