Market Days
Jours de marché

Land of one’s birth, land of adoption. There’s a narrow borderline between the two for these Spanish forced into exile by poverty at the beginning of the twentieth century. On the other side, France is the land of work and, perhaps, of success. Emilio, Adriano, Maria and the others join the Spanish colony of Bordeaux. Their lives interweave with those of the local merchants, French and otherwise, rich and poor, in a neighbourhood which gravitates around the same hub: the Capuchin market. It’s there in the market hall and the cafés that surround it that everything comes together: love affairs and deals, brawls and schemes, friendships as well as betrayals… Their destinies are played out against the backdrop of the popular tunes of the day and the wars sweeping across Europe.

François Garcia, a doctor in Bordeaux, grew up near the Capuchin market. The success of Jours de marché, his first novel, augurs well for the future.

« A powerful and deeply moving novel. » Sud Ouest dimanche
With writing like this, accomplished right from the start, he’s going to go far. » Françoise Xenakis, Page des libraires
« This edgy saga is carried along by sentences with a quick-tempered and sensitive punch. » Libération