This book was not for me
I disliked the writing style so much and felt bored.
I didn’t finish this book as it was dragging too much

Excellent descriptive work. A real treat.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

This could have been an interesting, enlightening book, but instead it was clunky and dull. As this is a translation, I believe that it could have been the fault of the translator rather than the author that the language flows badly and the narrative is confusing. I can’t say for sure though, not having read the original!

One Day I’ll Tell You Everything is a curious little story about a trans woman called Adele and how she tries to keep the details of her transition secret in the small mountainous town that she lives in.

With a quick sum up of the story you can understand why I was curious to read it. I was sold on the premise but the delivery was all a bit wonky for me. The main action of the book took place in the final 20% of the book. Whereas if the author had spaced it out and flashed backwards and forwards throughout then the tension of the story would have built more evenly rather than slow slow slow slow slow fast fast the end.

I did like how the author used the metaphor of being trapped as similar to Adele’s situation. That was cleverly done. However, the overall power of the book was lost because of the strange pacing.

One Day I’ll Tell You Everything by Emmanuelle Pagano is available 24th September 2020.

For more information regarding Text Publishing (@text_publishing) please visit www.textpublishing.co.au.

‘I cried a lot when I was little, often, and I didn’t know why.’

Adèle returns home, to the village where she grew up in the Ardèche mountains in South-east France, after an absence of ten years. She has returned to drive the school bus, transporting the school children the long distances they now must travel to attend school. Adèle believes that no-one recognises her: the person who left the village is not the one who has returned. She is home.

‘Once again, the landscape has filled up my whole being. My countryside is contained within me.’

Adèle has a past, and part of her story will unfold in this novel. There is the story of two siblings, Alex, and his older sister Adèle, who was once his brother. Alex is angry with Adèle: he misses his big brother and refuses to acknowledge he has a sister. Can Alex accept Adèle? Adèle, the bus driver, knows each of the children she is responsible for on the bus. She watches them grow, sees their struggles, feels responsible for them. And then, one day, the bus is stranded by a snowstorm. Adèle and the students take shelter in a cave. To pass the time, they talk. One of the students starts to reveal Adèle’s history.

‘And he begins to tell the story of my life.’

Right at that moment, I caught my breath. How will the students react to Adèle’s story? Will they still accept her? Or has she been accepted already? Adèle is concerned: both her standing in the community and a developing relationship are at stake. By this stage in the novel Adèle and her struggles have become real: I want her to find happiness, I want her to find a place where she is accepted for who she is.

Ms Pagano’s novel deals sensitively with several of the issues that arise when someone transitions from one gender to another. Relationships with family, acceptance in the community often change because of the way in which we define people according to their gender, rather than considering their humanity.

‘So there you go, I say, it’s the night of revelations.’

This novel was first published in 2006 as ‘Les Adolescents Troglodytes’ and won the European Union Prize for Literature in 2009. Fortunately, it is now available in English.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Text Publishing for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

I recommend this story following Adele, a school bus driver in rural mountain ranges of France, for the visceral descriptions of characters, place and emotions – this book really puts you in the midst of the main character’s mind, as she struggles to come to peace with her identity as a transgender woman, her history with family and how the world will treat her. It is very thought provoking, but doesn’t make her into a victim, so it’s a refreshing read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free advance e-book copy of the title.

This book was completely different to what I was expecting after reading the premise.

It was an interesting read, and the inclusivity was great. However I think the translation let this book down a bit which I find is usually the case for translated books.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this E-book to review via Netgalley.

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me with an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is not my usual genre, I’m more into crime/thriller books and even psychological thrillers too so I am extremely pleased and grateful to them for opening up my mind to something totally different.

I read this book about 2 weeks ago and it was a good read I will say that firstly but sadly for me it wasn't the best book in the world.

I felt that the synopsis of the book kind of gave a misleading premise in the meaning of saying that the school kids and the bus driver get trapped up on a mountain which they do but only in the last 10-15% of the book. but saying that I really enjoyed the dynamic of all the children and our main character together and how they felt safe with our main character and seeing the bond grow throughout the novel for them.

I loved also the inclusivity of having a Transgender main character which I will always support books with any LGBT themes.

but yep sadly this book wasn't the greatest to me but I read It super quickly.

This was not the story that I was expecting, having said that though, I did enjoy the story, though I think it has been let down by it's translation.

Told in both flashbacks and a continuing narrative, it is on occasions difficult to tell at what point in history you are - is it the present, the past or the deep past?

The point around which the story revolves is revealed early in the story to the reader, though only at the end to the other characters in the story, this takes away some of the suspense and intrigue.

As I mentioned at the start of my review, I think the translation has let this story down.