A wryly funny story about a struggling Parisian writer who finds the heroine of his next novel right outside his apartmentFoenkinos is at his best in this playful novel  ElleA charming, clever book  The IndependentIs it true that every life is the stuff of novels? Or are some people just too ordinary?This is the question a struggling Parisian writer asks when he challenges himself to write about the first person he sees when he steps outside his apartment. Secretly hoping to meet the beautiful woman who occasionally smokes on his street, he instead sets eyes on octogenarian Madeleine. She''s happy to become the subject of his project, but first she needs to put her shopping away.Is it really true, the writer wonders, that every life is the stuff of novels, or is his story doomed to be hopelessly banal? As he gets to know Madeleine and her family, hell be privy to their secrets: lost loves, marital problems and workplace worries. And hell soon realise he is not the impartial bystander he intended to be, but a catalyst for major changes in the lives of his characters.Told with Foenkinoss characteristic irony and self-deprecating humour, yet filled with warmth, The Martins is a compelling tale of the family next door which raises questions about what it means to be ordinary, and about the blurred lines between truth and fiction. Light yet profound, its another deeply charming story by this beloved French author.