Righst sold to Czech Republic (Mlada Fronta), Germany (Berlin Verlag), Spain (Plaza y Janes) and Turkey (Kuraldisi)
Émilie and Morgane were once the best friends in the world. Life in general and mysterious reasons came between them. The year they turn 30, they meet again on Facebook. Émilie bills herself as a “full-time mum” living in the country. Morgane describes herself as a Paris career girl with a spectacular rise to success.
But the truth is a little less rosy… Émilie secretly dreams of escaping from the unfinished building work in her house, from her recently redundant husband and her noisy children. Morgane, meanwhile, is accumulating neuroses and wants a baby as well as power in the world of work which, although enlightened, is still sexist and a place where motherhood rarely goes hand in hand with promotion. And so the two women make a pact. Émilie will help Morgane reconcile her twin ambitions, and Morgane will turn Émilie into the perfect working mum.
No More than 4 Hours’ Sleep is a universal novel for this generation, full of talk of motherhood and career plans, feminism and makeovers, baby blues and friendship, childcare places and urgent meetings. Somewhere between women’s rivalry and solidarity, it also introduces us to a gallery of well captured secondary characters: from perfect mothers at the school gates to permanently tanned advertising executives, via absent fathers and overly present mothers-in-law… and of course girl friends, women who intend not to sacrifice anything, despite the complications of everyday life. With a tone that is sometimes acerbic and always funny, No More than 4 Hours’ Sleep is the novel of the “digital mum” generation.
Marlène Schiappa is 30 and has two children. She founded “Maman travaille” (Mummy’s working), the first French network for working mothers, which has had a blog on Yahoo! since 2008. Now an authority on and chronicler of ways to reconcile professional and family life, she organizes annual Maman travaille days in Paris and around France. She has already had several non-fiction books published, including Les 200 astuces de Maman travaille and Le Guide de grossesse de Maman travaille.
Mais la réalité est un peu moins rose… Émilie rêve secrètement d’échapper aux travaux inachevés de sa maison, à son mari démissionnaire et à ses enfants trop bruyants. Morgane, elle, collectionne les névroses, veut à la fois un bébé et le pouvoir dans un monde professionnel, certes branché, mais toujours sexiste, où maternité ne rime pas souvent avec promotion. Alors elles vont faire un pacte. Émilie aidera Morgane à concilier ses deux ambitions, et Morgane fera d’Émilie une parfaite workingmum.
Pas plus de 4 heures de sommeil est un roman générationnel, universel, sans tabou, où l’on parle maternité et plan de carrière, féminisme et relooking, NTM et coussinets d’allaitement, baby-blues et amitié, places en crèche et réunions « ASAP ». Entre rivalité et solidarité féminines, on y croise aussi une galerie de personnages secondaires bien vus, attachants ou agaçants : des mères parfaites à la sortie des écoles aux publicitaires bronzés toute l’année en passant par des pères absents et des bellesmères trop présentes, et bien sûr les copines, ces femmes qui entendent tout avoir, ne renoncer à rien malgré les embûches du quotidien. Sur un ton subtil et touchant, parfois féroce, toujours drôle, Pas plus de 4 heures de sommeil est le roman de la génération « digital mums ».