The Little Girl and the Cigarette - Tapa blanda

A wicked satire about the chaos that results when there's a rule for everything.

In the over-legislated world of this outrageous black comedy, a death-row inmate becomes a darling of the media-- and the tobacco conglomerates--after he demands his right to a final cigarette . . . in a smoke-free prison. Meanwhile, a little girl accuses a petty municipal bureaucrat of sexual perversion when she catches him sneaking a cigarette. Incredulously, he realizes that in this world where children are not just kings, but tyrants, a cigarette could lead him to the electric chair.

At the cutting edge of European fiction, controversial author Benoît Duteurtre creates a world wildly askew, yet disconcertingly close to our own, in this daring, antic satire.

An anarchic and controversial figure in France, Benoît Duteurtre (Ben-wha Du-tert) became a writer after Samuel Beckett praised his early work. Duteurtre has written fifteen novels and been awarded the coveted Prix Medici, his work acclaimed by Milan Kundera and media philosopher Guy Dubord alike. The great-grandson of French President René Coty, Duteurtre is also the host of his own radio talk show, “Astonish Me, Benoît.” His work has been translated into thirteen languages. His novel Customer Service is also available from Melville House.