The Last Laugh of Edouard Bresson

Edouard Bresson is France's most celebrated stand-up comedian, and the novel opens as he prepares for the last performance of his tour: a sold-out night at the Stade de France, broadcast live, with fans waiting outside for an autograph. Then he disappears.

The narrative alternates between Edouard's own perspective and that of his son Arthur, who has spent his life hiding his connection to his famous father and resenting his absence. What Edouard leaves behind is a kind of treasure hunt — a set of clues meant to explain the choices he made and the childhood that shaped him. Following them, Arthur finds a man far more complicated, and far more present, than the one he thought he knew.

Amelie Antoine's novel, translated from the French by Maren Baudet-Lackner, is a story about fame, absence, forgiveness and what a father can only say once he is gone.