Clara reads Proust

The person who will change your life can be found in the most unlikely places, including the pages of a book. Clara reads Proust , by Stéphane Carlier, is a true declaration of love for the power of books and art.

“As she read those pages, something a little magical happened that, for the first time, left her thinking that books could be better than life.”

The days pass slowly at Cindy Coiffure. Located on a back street in a small town in Saône-et-Loire, France, the salon survives thanks to a loyal clientele with an average age of around seventy and an inescapable routine.

The salon is run by Mrs. Habib, a melancholic woman who misses her youth in Paris and firmly believes the salon's problem lies in its outdated name. Every day, the salon is visited by Lorraine, the owner of the bar and tobacco shop on the corner, who always appears holding two coffees and counting down the days until her next vacation. Working at Cindy Coiffure are Nolwenn, whose expression is always neutral except when watching a funny video on her phone; and Patrick, who only works on Saturdays and holidays. Life as a divorced man with a child isn't easy, but who finds pleasure in drawing manga and listening to heavy metal.

And then there's Clara. Her days at the salon are always the same, she has a boyfriend so handsome he looks like a Disney prince—Flynn Rider, in this case—and a cat who won't let himself be petted. She feels increasingly distant from her own life, bored with her routine, until the day she is introduced to the man who will change her life: Marcel Proust.

Delicate, ironic, and captivating, Clara Reads Proust is a story of personal liberation and a grand tribute to the transformative power of books.