Camille Kouchner

"Souviens-toi, maman : nous étions tes enfants." C. K. C'est l'histoire d'une grande famille qui aime débattre, rire et danser, qui aime le soleil et l'été. C'est le récit incandescent d'une femme qui ose enfin raconter ce qui a longtemps fait taire la familia grande.

La familia grande

The Familia Grande

THE LITERARY SENSATION THAT STORMED THE WORLD THE PHENOMENAL FRENCH BESTSELLER HAS SOLD 350,000 COPIES THE BOOK THAT SPARKED THE VIRAL #METOOINCEST MOVEMENT A family's secret weighs on everyone... THE FAMILIA GRANDE is a tender, groundbreaking and lacerating memoir written by a sister who could no longer remain silent... Set in amongst the French intellectual elite in Paris and their lavender scented estates in Provence, it tells a story of a corrosive secret that sits in a family for decades and ultimately razes it and the political, literary elite that enabled its silence, to the ground. Already an international bestseller, it has touched a nerve across the globe and has brought about a powerful reckoning of incest, and its far-reaching trauma. The Familia Grande is a book of a generation. 'The courage of a sister who could no longer keep quiet.' - EMMANUEL MACRON 'Powerful.' - THE TIMES 'Camille's battle to liberate herself from a painful family secret has touched a nerve across France' - THE NEW YORK TIMES

A family's silence weighs on everyone

An eloquent, powerful reckoning with incest and trauma, which made a profound impact with its denunciation of a prominent French public intellectual and the literary and political elite that enabled his abuse. In February 2017, Camille Kouchner gathered with family in Sanary-sur-Mer to bury her mother, who died with none of her five children present. Her passing would stir up old emotions, ultimately leading Camille to publicly confront a long-held and corrosive secret: her stepfather sexually abused her twin brother when they were adolescents. This violation of the parent-child relationship was compounded by the complicity of their mother, who learned of her husband’s actions and stood by him, shifting blame to Camille and her twin. The Familia Grande poignantly explores the family dynamics of abuse, and the questions of guilt and shame surrounding it. Camille grapples with her own sense of responsibility—for not having stopped her stepfather at the time, and for agreeing to keep silent as her brother asked—and also considers the wider societal forces that have allowed influential men to commit such crimes and avoid the consequences for so long.

Camille Kouchner

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