TOO YOUNG TO DIE, PERRINE HUON, STEPHANIE FUGAIN

Perrine Huon, eighteen years old, a student, carefree and full of life. A sudden fatigue, and then the news: she has leukemia. At a very serious stage requiring a bone marrow transplant... "The story Perrine tells you is not meant to make you cry," Stéphanie Fugain warns us from the outset. Indeed, this is the originality of this narrative, devoid of pathos, even in the hellish moments. Perrine Huon describes the hospital, the chemotherapy, the IVs, and her baldness with a fierce enthusiasm, that of a young girl who refuses to give the monster consuming her the slightest chance of defeating her. She recounts how her entire family bravely reacts to adversity. Her mother, her father, her brother, her two sisters, one of whom will donate her marrow. And her boyfriend, who outlines future plans, even though he knows that after the transplant, life will never be quite the same. "Thank you, Perrine," concludes Stéphanie Fugain, "for taking us on a journey through your daily reconstruction. Thank you for being an example to us all."... And a lesson in hope: the worst is never certain.