La petite fille de monsieur Linh

It is rare that a book manages to move me to tears, but Monsieur Linh did just that. Even in translation (beautifully achieved by Euan Cameron) the prose is emotional and elegant. The story of an elderly and traumatised Vietnamese man arriving in a French detention centre is deceptively simple and not much actually happens, but in his descriptions of this not much, Claudel opens our eyes to such great pain and despair that I believe any reader would struggle to remain untouched. Monsieur is the third in Claudel's loose trilogy of 'war' books and I have loved reading all three.

A short and sad little story with a fairy tale quality, Monsieur Linh is a refugee with nothing left other than a child he carries everywhere with him. He does not speak the language and whilst he manages to befriend a local, there is a feeling of isolation and loss throughout. Originally published in French as La petite fille de Monsieur Linh, it has been translated into English by Euan Cameron.

The cover blurb states there's an “extraordinary twist” but it seems quite clear to the reader what Monsieur Linh fails to see himself. The simple prose works well for a short read (130 pages). Much more and I think I would have lost interest. However Claudel does well to convey Linh's state of mind without complex character development.

Monsieur Linh is obviously not French so I'm not sure why the translator kept the title of Monsieur instead of using Mr or whatever would have been used in his own country.