Philippe Jaenada has won the Prix Goncourt for L’Inconnue du quai de Javel, his thirteenth novel, which examines the murder of a young woman, Louise Cansot, in 1949. The 62-year-old author was announced as the winner on November 3 at the Drouant restaurant in Paris.
Jaenada received six votes, compared with three for Sylvain Prudhomme. The novel, published by Flammarion, runs to 528 pages. Jaenada had been shortlisted for the Goncourt four times before, but this was his first time reaching the final.
The other finalists were Yannick Haenel’s La solitude des professeurs est infinie, Clémentine Mélois’s Choses que je croyais perdues, and Prudhomme’s De l’autre côté du lac. All four books were published by imprints belonging to the Madrigall group.
Sources: Le Monde Culture.