“It has taken more than 40 years for this small masterpiece by the Nobel prize-winner to find its English translation from the original French. The wait has been worthwhile. . . This great novel is infused with nostalgia for a lost time, place and people so intimately described that Victor’s memories begin to feel like our own.” –Guardian
“A French Nobel laureate’s beguiling 1975 novel about an elusive young man’s memory of love and friendship. . . Beautifully translated by John Cullen, this novel does not dip into that “life-world” of the French Occupation, but it does bear out the rest of the Nobel citation in being a seductive and at times poignant exploration of memory.” —Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“Like all of Modiano’s novels, this is a brilliant evocation of guilt and memory.” –Catholic Herald
“Adding more color to Modiano’s exquisite palette; highly recommended.” —Library Journal Starred Review
“Nobel Prize-winning French writer Modiano develops his now-trademark demimonde of secrets kept and personae doffed and donned . . . A brilliant evocation of place, memory, and loss, shot through with an aching nostalgia.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Beautifully translated by Cullen, [Villa Triste] is more substantial and satisfying than much of what has appeared thus far from Nobel laureate Modiano.”—Booklist