There are many books about successful adoptions. We can read about the difficulties parents have before discovering their child, about the inevitable period of learning on both sides, and then, we can usually read about a joyful and constructive end of the story.
Evelyne Pisier tells about a couple waiting for their child, about the first period of getting used to each other, but then she tells us that these moments are the easiest and most logical moments of the story. Une question d’âge tells about an adoption which becomes very difficult, an adoption never accepted by the child – a young girl and then an adolescent girl – and an adoption which does not end happily. The child never accepts its ‘illegitimate’ status and father and mother never find a way out of their loving but awkward attitude towards this child in permanent rebellion.
This novel which sometimes seems to be a document, is surprisingly incorrect and therefore extremely poignant and strong. What usually cannot be said about adoption, is openly said in this novel. There is humour as well, and a deep tenderness in the authors’ tone.

Évelyne Pisier is a University professor for law and social sciences in Paris. She has published many articles, essays and dictionaries in her discipline, and has presented her first novel in 1994 (La Dernière fois, Flammarion) as well as a fictional biography of Sonia Rykiel in 2001 (Quand elle n’a pas de rouge, elle met du noir, avec Carmen Castillo, Fayard). She has collaborated to the TV-filmscript of Victoire ou la douleur des femmes, by Nadine Trintignant (France 2, 2000).