Cloe and Gertrude and the Jenkins-Bell sisters, Mathilde and Sarah, have never met.  They are strangers who share a city.
 
It is Sunday morning. Cloe has woken-up in someone else’s home; Gertrude starts her shift in the pub kitchen, while Mathilde and Sarah are on their way to lunch.

Soon, these four women’s lives will overlap.

Saturday felt like a normal day, but on Sunday the past will catch-up with them as they realise that there never is only one side to a story.

‘A study of womanhood, vulnerability, and the secrecy of the inner-life. Vialleron’s writing is laced with a love for these women who can barely love themselves. A novel for anyone interested in the way the body keeps score or in the complex intimacies between women’  Rowan Hisayo Buchanan

‘A  tender, lyrical novel about the ripples caused when consent is taken away from women and the loneliness this causes, even when you’re surrounded by people. It will tug at your heart strings’ Araminta Hall

‘Reading Breaststrokes felt a little like watching ribbons unfurl – or intertwine. Margaux Vialleron writes tenderly and evocatively about female friendship, fear and desire’  Chloë Ashby

Cloe and Gertrude and the Jenkins-Bell sisters, Mathilde and Sarah, have never met.  They are strangers who share a city.
 
It is Sunday morning. Cloe has woken-up in someone else’s home; Gertrude starts her shift in the pub kitchen, while Mathilde and Sarah are on their way to lunch.

Soon, these four women’s lives will overlap.

Saturday felt like a normal day, but on Sunday the past will catch-up with them as they realise that there never is only one side to a story.

Sharply observed and painfully relatable,  Breaststrokes  is a novel that seems to emerge from the haze of our current time. This story of unexpected encounters and intimacies is perfect for fans of  Cleopatra and Frankenstein  and  Beautiful World, Where Are You.
 

London E17, 2019. A yellow kitchen stands as a metaphor for the lifelong friendship between three women: Claude, the baker, goal-orientated Sophie and political Giulia. They have the best kind of friendship, chasing life and careers; dating, dreaming and consuming but always returning to be reunited in the yellow kitchen.

That is, until a trip to Lisbon unravels unexplored desires between Claude and Sophie. Having sex is one thing, waking up the day after is the beginning of something new.

Exploring the complexities of female friendship,  The Yellow Kitchen  is a hymn to the last year of London as we knew it and a celebration of the culture, the food and the rhythms we live by.

Praise for  The Yellow Kitchen:

‘Rich and thoroughly intoxicating, The  Yellow Kitchen is a sensual journey into friendship, food and female sexuality, full  of complex, fascinating characters and  bold ideas. I loved it’  Rosie Walsh

‘A heady mix of politics, friendship, sex and food, poignant, provocative and utterly distinctive’ Paula Hawkins  

‘An exquisite novel – beautifully  rendered, powerfully told, and so deeply  felt. I urge you to read this novel – you  will never forget it’   Lucia Osborne-Crowley

‘Mixing female friendship, romance, loss, redemption, and memorable meals,  The Yellow Kitchen  is the perfect recipe for a flavorful literary feast. With subtle dashes of wit and generous sprinklings of honesty, Margaux Vialleron has crafted a brave and tender tale’  Kim Fay, author of Love & Saffron?

‘The Yellow Kitchen is so warm and convivial in atmosphere, and its discussion of the politics of the UK and their impact very poignant. It portrayed beautifully the sense of adventure of being a certain age, with its rush and richness and emotional confusion, and I found it such a satisfying read’ Emily Itami, author of Fault Lines