Meet the author: Catherine Rey
Catherine Rey was born in Saintes, studied and taught French Literature in Bordeaux before leaving France for Australia in 1997.
Her debut novel L’ami intime was published in 1994 by the iconic French publisher Le Temps Qu’il Fait. It received a laudatory review in Le Monde. Rey followed this with seven more works published in France, two of which have been translated into English.
One of these, Ce que racontait Jones, translated by Andrew Reimer as The Spruiker’s Tale, was short-listed for the prestigious Renaudot and Femina prizes in France. This baroque saga set in the Australian outback was reviewed in The Age by James Ley who said: ‘Rey is a flamboyant talent indeed.’
Also published by Giramondo came the fictionalised autobiography Stepping Out (translated from Une femme en marche by Julie Rose), where the author anatomises her consuming struggle to find her writing voice through a difficult relationship with her mother. The Australian described Stepping Out as ‘inspirational’.
Rey went onto publish her first English language novel The Lovers with Gazebo Books. This tale, an arresting mystery which revolves around the disappearance of Lucie Bruyère, was reviewed by Sydney Morning Herald as ‘an impressive feat of complex and nuanced story-telling’.
