Léon and Louise

‘A gem of a novel’ 
The New York Times

‘A beautiful love story’ 
BBC Radio Oxford

‘The eccentric charm … keeps you tearing through the pages’ 
O, The Oprah Magazine

‘A powerful tale of love lost and found’ 
Booklist

Summer 1918. The First World War is drawing to a close when Léon Le Gall, a French teenager who has dropped out of school and left home, falls in love with Louise Janvier. Both are severely wounded by German artillery fire, are separated, and believe each other to be dead.

Briefly reunited two decades later, the two lovers are torn apart again by Louise’s refusal to destroy Léon’s marriage and the German invasion of France. Through occupied Paris during the Second World War, where Léon struggles against the abhorrent tasks imposed upon him by the SS, and the wilds of Africa, where Louise confronts the hardships of her environment, they battle the vicissitudes of history and the passage of time for the survival of their love.

Léon and Louise is a grand passion, a tale of love’s triumph against improbable odds, and a masterfully told story

ALEX CAPUS is an acclaimed Swiss novelist. His books include A Matter of Time, Almost Like Spring, Life is Good, A Price to Pay, and Skidoo, and Sailing by Starlight.