Novelist Aude Walker has written La Plage noire, a domestic thriller whose primary inspiration comes from one of the Hyères islands.

The summer heat, a couple adrift, turtle watching, and a stalker who becomes increasingly menacing: these are the ingredients of Aude Walker's fourth novel, set on an island she knows intimately. Porquerolles is so vividly portrayed because the author spent all her childhood holidays there: "My grandmother bought an apartment off-plan there in the 70s. I have only good memories of this island; it's extraordinary to stay there as a child or young teenager. There are no cars, you feel protected, it's a little paradise." A paradise that transforms, for the two protagonists of her novel, into a small hell: "I wanted to write about the disintegration of a couple, about the loss of love in a duo harassed by an external threat that revealed all the dysfunctional and darkest aspects of their relationship." Just like the couple, the island protects, but it also confines. Its fauna, flora, and delicate balance are constantly threatened, particularly by the influx of tourists and the polluting boats. And ultimately, this allegory between the couple and the island, between a fragile territory and a couple besieged by external threats, emerged quite naturally. The Langoustier beach lends its nickname to this unclassifiable novel, a beautiful reflection on relationships that proves appearances are more deceiving than ever.

Aude Walker

Her 3 summer reading recommendations

Alice Rivaz, The Peace of the Beehives

"An incredibly powerful feminist text dating from 1947, two years before Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex. Its message is extremely relevant today."

Zoé Publishing, 144 pages, €8

Olivier Norek, Surface

"A gripping page-turner, a devilishly effective summer thriller that was adapted into a series on France 2 last year."

Pocket collection, 393 p., €9

Lolita Pille, Antigone Queen

"It's a remarkably intelligent essay that examines the influence of literature on our beings."

Published by Le Cherche Midi, 400 pages, €23