The Stone Boy

"The bestselling French phenomenon, winner of the Prix Lion Noir, now available in English for the first time... When Madame Praeau returns to her home outside Paris after a long convalescence, she immediately notices that much has changed. The neighborhood has fallen into disrepair, and now, instead of a beautiful garden next door there is a new house. Madame Praeau finds that she can see directly into her new neighbors' windows. And Madame Praeau quickly feels that something isn't right. Her neighbors have two perfectly healthy children who play in the yard after school. But there is also third child: a young boy who looks malnourished and abused, and tosses small stones at her window in an apparent call for help. The family denies his existence. But is the little boy real, or merely a hallucination of a lonely, mentally unstable old woman cut off from her own beloved grandson? When the police refuse to listen to her reports, Madame Praeau decides to take matters into her own hands. She's determined to help the little boy, and she'll use any means necessary to make sure he's safe... "--

Sophie Loubiere is a novelist, journalist, and radio producer. The author of five novels, several detective short stories and a children's book, Sophie Loubiere won the Lion Noir prize and the Ville de Mauves-sur-Loire prize forThe Stone Boy. She is also the winner of the SACD Meilleur Jeune Auteur Radio prize for her work in radio.