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A quintessential early novel about an intense friendship, by the winner of the 2020 Prix Goncourt de la nouvelle. A Leopard-Skin Hat may be the French writer Anne Serre�s most moving novel yet. Hailed in Le Point as a �masterpiece of simplicity, emotion and elegance,� it is the story of an intense friendship between �the Narrator� and his close childhood friend, Fanny, who suffers from profound psychological disorders. A series of short scenes paints the portrait of a strong-willed and tormented young woman battling many demons, and of the narrator�s loving and anguished attachment to her. Anne Serre poignantly depicts the bewildering back and forth between hope and despair involved in such a relationship, while playfully calling into question the very form of the novel. Written in the aftermath of the death of the author�s little sister, A Leopard-Skin Hat is both the celebration of a tragically foreshortened life and a valedictory farewell, written in Anne Serre�s signature style.