Skip to main content

Claire Berest

Biography

Claire Berest

Claire Berest is the author of the novels MIKADO; THE EMPTY ORCHESTRA; BELLEVUE; RIEN N’EST NOIR, winner of the ELLE Readers Grand Prize; ARTIFICES; and two works of nonfiction, CLASS STRUGGLE: Why I Resigned from National Education, and LOST CHILDREN: An Investigation in the Minors Brigade. Her most recent novel is GABRIËLE, written with her sister, Anne Berest. Artifices.

Claire Berest

Books by Claire Berest

Gabriële
written by Anne Berest and Claire Berest, translated by Tina Kover - Fiction, Historical Fiction

Paris, 1908. At the height of the Belle Époque, Gabriële Buffet --- a brilliant young musician fresh out of Europe’s most elite conservatory --- meets Francis Picabia, a charismatic and explosive Spanish painter. Their intense love affair plunges them into a Paris alive with artistic experimentation and social rebellion. Soon after, Gabriële meets the enigmatic Marcel Duchamp. Before long, the three have embarked on a passionate and unconventional relationship that will define their personal stories --- and in the process reshape modern art. As Europe moves from exuberance to upheaval, and World War I looms, Gabriële, Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp and their milieu challenge every convention: about marriage, sexuality, authorship and artistic freedom.