Bare Hands
Under option: Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, Slovakia and South Korea.
Emma is a country veterinarian, a self sufficient 43-year old woman living a hard, solitary life. Giovanni, 14 years old and on the run, suddenly bursts into her life. Emma once knew his parents, Micol and Raphaël. She has tried to forget about what happened between her and Giovanni’s parents, and wants him to leave. But he stays. Little by little, a tentative yet tender relationship establishes itself between Emma and Giovanni.
When Micol comes to take Giovanni back, she senses that the unthinkable has happened between Emma and the adolescent boy. There will be revenge, a court case… but for what reason, and against whom? Is this to denounce a kind of love that remains a taboo? Or is it a way of dealing with a troubled past, with wounds that have not healed?
Bare Hands is the portrait of a tough woman whose life is suddenly turned up-side-down. In this atypical novel narrated through Emma’s voice, Simonetta Greggio addresses a sensitive subject in an uncompromising yet subtle way.
Simonetta Greggio is of Italian origins yet writes in French. Her first novel, La douceur des hommes, was selected as one of the best 25 books of 2005 by the magazine Lire. She published a novella, Étoiles, in 2006 (Flammarion), and a second novel, Col de l’ange, in 2007 (Stock). She also contributed to the collection of short stories, Huit, with Calmann-Lévy (2008).
Emma est vétérinaire de campagne. À quarante-trois ans, au beau milieu d’une vie rude, autarcique et solitaire, elle voit débarquer le jeune Giovanni, adolescent fugueur de quatorze ans, dont elle a autrefois connu les parents, Micol et Raphaël. Ce qui s’est joué entre elle et les parents de Giovanni, elle a voulu l’oublier, l’enfouir au plus profond. Elle souhaiterait que Giovanni parte, mais il reste. Et s’installe peu à peu entre eux une histoire tendre, fiévreuse et maladroite.
Lorsque Micol revient chercher son fils, elle croit comprendre l’irréparable, la liaison entre Emma et Gio. Il y aura procès. Il y aura vengeance. Mais de quoi, et de qui, se venge-ton ? D’un amour qui reste tabou ? Ou d’un passé dont les blessures ne se sont pas refermées ?
Sur un sujet délicat, Simonetta Greggio livre un roman subtil autant qu’âpre et inattendu, porté de bout en bout par la voix d’Emma. Portait d’une femme aux mains nues et rugueuses dont la vie se trouve soudainement bousculée.