Jean-Claude Izzo Books

The second volume in Jean-Claude Izzo's acclaimed Marseilles Trilogy, featuring ex-cop Fabio Montale.

Set against a backdrop of despair, the story follows a man grappling with his failures and the elusive nature of love. As he navigates his struggles, the narrative delves into themes of hopelessness and the complexities of human relationships, offering a poignant exploration of a life in turmoil. The author's signature style shines through in this final novel, leaving a lasting impact on readers.

The Final Book in the Marseilles Trilogy Ex-cop, loner, Fabio Montale returns in this stunning conclusion to Jean-Claude Izzo's Marseilles trilogy. Italian Mafiosi are hunting journalist-activist Babette Bellini, and the body count is growing as they close in on their prey. In desperation, Bellini seeks help from her former lover, Montale. Before he has time to shake off his most recent hangover, Montale is receiving sinister phone calls from men with Italian accents who want him to find Bellini for them. Like a woman he can't leave, like strong liquor he can't refuse, Marseilles lures Montale back into its violent embrace. This is a Marseilles that will break your heart. A modern city and an ancient Mediterranean port, a melting pot of ethnicities and a cauldron boiling with human passions, a place of natural splendor and of sudden violence. Solea is Izzo's heartfelt cry against the criminal forces corrupting his beloved city. It is his farewell to Marseilles and to its ideal protagonist, Fabio Montale. It concludes an unforgettable trilogy that epitomizes the aspirations and ideals of the Mediterranean noir movement.

From one of France's best-known authors comes this evocative meditation on the human comedy. A freighter is impounded in the port of Marseilles when its owners declare bankruptcy. On board, the men are wait for the money owed them—money that might never come—or accept their fate and abandon ship? This may be Captain Abdul Aziz's last commission and he is determined to save his charge and stand by his men. Diamantis, his second-in-command, is in search of a woman he has never stopped loving and who may now be living in Marseilles. In these close quarters charged with physical and emotional tension, each of these marooned sailors' life stories begins to resemble a chapter in the complex, colorful, and tragic story of the Mediterranean Sea itself—rich with romance, legend, passion and drama.The Lost Sailors is a richly textured and bittersweet tribute to Mediterranean life. It is the novel in which Jean Claude-Izzo most completely expresses his vision of human history and how it has been played out on the shores of this sea since the beginnings of time. This is a novel for anyone who loves the sea, for anyone who is attracted to the dark passions it can provoke, for anyone who feels drawn to the rich blend of races, religions and individual stories to be found in port cities the world over. It is, at the same time, a story of the prodigious forces at play in all human destiny.

From the father of the Mediterranean Noir genre. A short sublime book on the three things dearest to Jean-Claude Izzo's heart: his native Marseilles, the sea in all its splendor, and Mediterranean noir--the literary genre his books helped to found. This collection of writings shows Izzo, author of the acclaimed Marseilles trilogy, at his most contemplative and insightful. His native city, with its food, its flavors, its passioante inhabitants, and its long, long history of commerce and conviviality, constitute the lifeblood that runs through all of Izzo's work. Reminiscent of Henry Miller's The Colossus of Maroussi and the lyrical essays of Antoine de Saint-Exup ry and Albert Camus, as uplifting and touching as Daniel Klein's Travels with Epicurus, this slender volume will appeal equally to gourmets who delight in the strong flavors of Mediterranean cuisine, to those travelling on the Riviera (or arm-chair travelers who wish they could), and, naturally, to aficionados of noir fiction.

Izzo's Marseille is explosive, tragic, breathtakingly beautiful and deadly.

Die geheime Heldin aller Romane von Jean-Claude Izzo ist Marseille. Bislang unveröffentlichte Texte erzählen von den Menschen, dem Licht und den Farben der Stadt. Izzo führt durch die Gassen und Kneipen, erzählt von Kräutern und Düften, von Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft einer ewigen Stadt. »Diese Stadt ist ein offenes Tor, offen zur Welt, offen zum Nachbarn. Ein Tor, das sich nie schließen wird. Marseille ist Vielfalt. Viele Kulturen, viele Völker, tausend Geschichten. Hier ist Verdi gleich populär wie Bob Marley. Hier wird in vielen Sprachen gesprochen, gesungen, geträumt. Woher man auch kommt - in Marseille ist man zu Hause.«

Fabio Montale ist ein kleiner Polizist mit Hang zum guten Essen und einem großen Herz für all die verschiedenen Bewohner der Hafenstadt: für die Italiener, die Spanier, die Algerier und auch die Franzosen. Ob einer Polizist wird oder Gangster, das ist reiner biografischer Zufall. Freund bleibt Freund. Deswegen muss Fabio auch handeln, als zwei seiner Gangster-Freunde ermordet werden. Als die beiden gerächt sind, muss er feststellen, dass das Spiel nach Regeln gespielt wird, die mit Ehre nichts zu tun haben. Von Leuten, denen genauso egal ist, ob einer Polizist ist oder Verbrecher.

Scène de rupture, drame du racisme ... Six faits divers pour six nouvelles aux allures de tragédie antique.

Die geheime Heldin aller Romane von Jean-Claude Izzo ist Marseille. Diese Texte erzählen von den Menschen, dem Licht und den Farben der Stadt. Izzo führt durch die Gassen und Kneipen, erzählt von Kräutern und Düften, von Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft einer ewigen Stadt.