The Gate of Hell, Laurent Gaudé

In the aftermath of a shooting in Naples, Matteo's entire reason for being collapses. His young son is dead. His wife, Giuliana, disappears. He himself sinks into solitude and, night after night, in his empty taxi, aimlessly drives through the city streets.
But one evening, he picks up a strange client who, to pay for his ride, offers to buy him a drink in a tiny cafe. There, Matteo meets the owner, Garibaldo, the unrepentant priest Don Mazerotti, and above all, Professor Provolone, a colorful character, as erudite as he is controversial, who speaks strangely about the reality of Hell. And who claims that one can descend there…
Those who die take a piece of our lives with them to the Afterlife, and we despair of recovering it, both for their sake and to ease our pain. It is in the awareness of all sorrows – his own, ours – that Laurent Gaudé opposes death with one of humanity's strongest myths. Both radiant and dark, captivating and suspenseful, his new novel takes us on a "journey" where time and destiny are defied by the will to snatch a being from oblivion.
"Novelist and playwright born in 1972, Laurent Gaudé has published several plays and novels with Actes Sud, including: Cris (2001; Babel no. 613), La Mort du roi Tsongor (2002, Goncourt des lycéens prize 2002, Libraires prize 2003; Babel no. 667), Le Soleil des Scorta (2004, Goncourt prize 2004, Jean-Giono prize 2004; Babel no. 734), Eldorado (2006; Babel no. 842), and a collection of short stories, Dans la nuit Mozambique (2007; Babel no. 902)."

9782742777044