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The Bombshell by Darrow Farr

Literary fiction

The Bombshell

Debut
Early Release

by Darrow Farr

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Quick take

In this razor-sharp, provocative tale, a headstrong teen held for ransom is drawn into her captors’ revolutionary cause.

Early Release

Read it before it hits other bookstores on May 27th.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, 400

    400+ pages

  • Illustrated icon, Action_packed

    Action-packed

  • Illustrated icon, Salacious

    Salacious

  • Illustrated icon, Coming_of_age

    Coming of age

Synopsis

Corsica, 1993. As a sun-drenched Mediterranean summer heads into full swing, beautiful and brash seventeen-year-old Séverine Guimard is counting down the days until graduation, dreaming of stardom while smoking cigarettes and seducing boys in her class to pass the time. The pampered French-American daughter of a politician, Séverine knows she’s destined for bigger things.

That is, until one night, Séverine is snatched off her bike by a militant trio fighting for Corsican independence and held for a large ransom. When the men fumble negotiating her release, the four become unlikely housemates deep in the island’s remote interior. Eager to gain the upper hand, Séverine sets out to charm her captors, and soon, the handsome, intellectual leader, Bruno, the gentle university student, Tittu, and even the gruff, unflappable Petru grow to enjoy the company of their headstrong hostage.

As Séverine is exposed to the group’s political philosophy, the ideas of Marx and Fanon begin to take root. With her flair for the spotlight and newfound beliefs, Séverine becomes the face of a radical movement for a global TV audience. What follows is a summer of passion and terror, careening toward an inevitable, explosive conclusion, as Séverine steps into the biggest role of her life.

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The Bombshell

1. Enlèvement

In the hours before her kidnapping, Séverine Guimard claimed Antoine Carsenti’s virginity in a grotto overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. She’d felt his eyes on her since she transferred to the Lycée Laetitia Bonaparte the year before. She knew she wasn’t beautiful in the dark-haired, olive-skinned way of the Corsicans around her, but Séverine was something to look at, with her sharp cheek-bones and gold-washed hair and huge nose. It was a nose that belonged on the marble bust of a Roman senator, not a seventeen-year-old girl. Her mother always told her she’d look common without it, but Séverine had convinced Papa to pay for a nose job as a combination­ graduation-birthday gift so long as she passed the baccalauréat next week.

It was perhaps this one flaw that endowed her with a keen awareness of her body, how it moved beneath clothes, how to angle her face in overhead lighting, how to make people watch her. Admittedly, she also possessed a certain magnetism based on her father’s position as prefect of Corsica. She’d been to the Élysée for dinner, and President Schneider had kissed her hello; she’d vacationed in Greece with the head of the IMF and his family; she’d even played pétanque with a mid-succession-​­line Grimaldi on the beach in Monaco one time. But she did not feel like Papa’s position and influence eclipsed her infant star; in fact, she was confident that she’d eventually burn brighter than him. She would be an actress, a very famous one whose poster teen boys would tack to their ceilings. Once she had her nose fixed.

Séverine loved how Antoine Carsenti already gawked at her like she was somebody; she’d ask to borrow a pen and he’d hand it to her while thanking her for asking him. Last year, he was all baby fat and a bad crew cut, but he’d since shot up and slimmed down, let his hair grow out and parted it down the middle like Leonardo DiCaprio on Quoi de neuf, docteur? He wasn’t hot yet, but in another year or two, he would be. It was the ideal moment for Séverine to initiate him, before he was corrupted by his new status, when he was still sweet and grateful for her attention.

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Why I love it

The word “explosive” is an old standby in book blurbs, but The Bombshell is perhaps the most genuinely explosive book I’ve ever read—both literally and figuratively. Sharply characterized and thought-provoking, it’s a debut like nothing you’ve ever read before.

Set in 1990s Corsica, The Bombshell tells the story of Séverine, a brilliant-yet-spoiled French teenager whose life is safely contained within the dull, elitist social spheres of her politician father. When a Corsican independence group kidnaps Séverine for ransom, she expects to be back in the arms of her family within a few days. But her captors’ demand for ransom goes unmet, and in the subsequent tense weeks of imprisonment, Séverine grows increasingly fascinated with their revolutionary ideals—and her own starring role in the bloody drama that’s poised to begin.

Reading this book feels like watching an old Hollywood movie or cracking open a 19th-century novel: romantic, dramatic, and bone-rattlingly good. If you’re looking to be swept away by a dazzling tour de force of plot and character, look no further than The Bombshell this May.

Member ratings (20)

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Literary fiction
View all
Intermezzo
A Season of Light
Liquid
The Book of George
Real Americans
Dirty Diana
Wellness
Margo’s Got Money Troubles
The God of the Woods
Same As It Ever Was
The Bombshell
Annie Bot
Bear
Sky Daddy
The Sun Was Electric Light
Mercury
True Biz
Family Happiness
The Lady Waiting
The Other Valley
Hard by a Great Forest
Good Material
The Bullet Swallower
Happy All the Time
Rental House
Alice Sadie Celine
Let Us Descend
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Shark Heart
Homeseeking
Transcendent Kingdom
Hello Beautiful
Dominicana
What's Mine and Yours
The Unsettled
Ask Again, Yes
Vladimir
Infinite Country
The Prophets
Normal People
The Verifiers
Salvage the Bones
The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
I Have Some Questions for You
Black Buck
The History of Love
Age of Vice
Paper Names
The Light Pirate
The Secret History
Memorial
The Half Moon
Happiness Falls
The Gifted School
The Death of Vivek Oji
The Knockout Queen
Little Monsters
Yerba Buena
Beautiful World, Where Are You
Free Food for Millionaires
A Burning
The Mothers
Small Country
The Sympathizer
Fleishman Is in Trouble
Lot
An American Marriage
The Animators
The Mars Room
Exit West
White Fur
Woman No. 17
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
Eat Only When You're Hungry
Rainbirds
A Ladder to the Sky
Golden Child
The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P
& Sons
The Association of Small Bombs
Lolly Willowes
All Grown Up
Marlena
Signal Fires
Woman of Light
Marrying the Ketchups
The Shards
Blue Sisters
Andromeda