Regina mea

Shell leaves home to seek war, hoping it will make him a man. He has left school and lives with his parents at a petrol station. After he almost starts a fire with a cigarette, they consider a special school for him. He takes a path behind the station into the mountains. But the high plateau holds only dry shrubs and silence.

There he meets Viviane, who asks him to call her his queen. They turn the plateau into a place for games and make-believe. Shell feels a rush of new sensations and follows her wishes. Love and carefree play take the place of his quest for war.

Jean-Baptiste Andrea’s coming-of-age novel blends real events with dreams and fantasy. It speaks to adult readers drawn to a child’s way of seeing. The book won the Prix Femina des lycéens and Prix du premier roman in 2017. Andrea later won the Goncourt Prize in 2023. This translation of Ma Reine is by Lucia Visinescu, from the French. It forms part of the Fiction Connection series.