Mes pieds nus frappent le sol, by Laure Martin

First novel by Laure Martin (2025), Éditions Double Ponctuation, 248 pages.

A gripping and necessary autobiographical first novel about the journey of a woman who survived sexual violence and inc*st. Her strength, her courage, her resilience, despite the unthinkable, the unbearable, the excesses of a patriarchal system that silences victims and, worse, lets abusers and witnesses believe that the fault lies with them, that there is no crime since the courts don’t convict, don’t punish. How do you rebuild yourself when the perpetrator is never acknowledged? In raw language and at a breathless pace, the author describes as closely as possible the reality of the facts, traumatic amnesia, loneliness, the fragmentation of the self, the repetitive, confining patterns in family, love, and work, but also the love, sisterhood, and anger that carry and lift us up.

A text that may be hard for sensitive readers, but one to read urgently.