The Elegance of the Hedgehog

About this book

EA novel by the French professor of philosophy Muriel Barbery. The book centers on a working-class concierge of an upscale apartment building in Paris, Renee Michel. She is an auto-didact of immense learning who deliberately conceals her intelligence. Her secret is discovered by a young resident of the building named Paloma. The novel is narrated alternately by each of these two characters.

First released in August 2006 by Gallimard, the novel became a bestseller of over a million copies.

Subjects

• apartment concierges
• apartment dwellers
• class in fiction
• fiction
• fiction, general
• friendship
• large type books
• new york times bestseller
• new york times reviewed
• nyt:trade-fiction-paperback=2008-12-07
• paris (france), fiction
• philosophical novel