In her first novel Explosives, journalist Hélène Coutard immerses readers in the thoughts and daily life of Clara, a 19-year-old “average girl” who has just arrived in Paris from a city in the southwest. As a student seeking new references, Clara gradually radicalizes through seemingly minor events, eventually joining an extremist group advocating violence.
This coming-of-age novel brings to life a rare heroine in literature, cinema, or art: an “average girl”, as described by Virginie Despentes in “King Kong Theory” – an ordinary young woman who is “not exceptional and suffers because of it.”
Throughout the novel, Hélène Coutard weaves a gallery of female characters with diverse ages and backgrounds around Clara, all united by a shared anger. Gradually, the story shifts towards a crime novel depicting the actions of a group of radical feminists, inspired by the German collective “Rote Zora”. These women, determined to overturn the established order of patriarchy, do not hesitate to resort to violence, even weapons.
Explosives by Hélène Coutard is published by Grasset.
