The Godmother

“Cayre’s middle-aged protagonist delivers her darkly comic adventure in the underworld with sardonic intelligence . . . [Cayre’s] trick is a magnificent one: Patience’s irresistible narration, never didactic, moves at an impressive clip as the reader roots all the while for the criminal — a woman in a man’s world, battling race, age and gender while cheerfully ignoring ethics.” — New York Times Book Review

“Exuberant . . . Maybe crime doesn't pay, but the guile and guts — and humour — with which Patience approaches this extreme solution to her desperate situation, right under the noses of law enforcement, is admirable, as are her survival instincts. Readers will be anxious about the fate of the forthright, sympathetic Patience up to the final page. It's no surprise that this novel won the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, France's most prestigious award for crime fiction.” — Publishers Weekly STARRED review

“Breaking Bad meets Weeds, with a French suburban twist . . . Acerbic and witty, casting a sharp eye on both failing social systems and the fruitless ‘war on drugs’, Patience is one of the standout characters in this year’s crime fiction crop, and you’ll be rooting for her all the way.” — The Guardian

“This book is exuberant and understated all at once; an almost stream-of-consciousness calamity of French darkness and humour, it follows a woman with more practicality than passion who sees the world in myriad fascinating ways. It’s thrilling to read a crime novel from the point of view of the Bad Guy (and without the usual prologues and asides of a predator’s grim thoughts) . . . Translated with spunk by Stephanie Smee, this is absolute champagne entertainment.” — Readings bookstore

“It’s a pleasure to read such a complex, strong female character, at this stage of life . . . While not a long book, The Godmother packs a lot of story into its 197 pages, and is driven by some snappy dialogue. Patience is one character that will linger with you long after the final page. This is an unusual crime novel, perfect to curl up with over the weekend.” — Better Reading

“Trust a French writer to come up with something blissfully different when it comes to crime fiction — a slim, entirely controlled novel narrated by an apparently unremarkable middle-aged woman with a serious case of exhaustion . . . Patience Portefeux is wonderfully unsentimental, with a cool, clever and often sardonically witty eye for relationships — not least her own — as well as for the somewhat bleak, and sometimes exploitable, nature of humans.” — London Free Press

“An unlikely underworld figure emerges in this suspenseful and deliciously black comic crime novel — lighter but no less Shakespearean than Breaking Bad.” — The Age

“A profane and hilarious read . . . A trippy, subversive, and totally engrossing tale that engages with themes of aging, race, immigration, gender, and labor in precarious times.” — Public Books

“This slender and sardonic novel, a prizewinning best seller in France, features a middle-aged heroine as a drug-running crime boss and offers an entire ethnographic study of North African immigrants in the Parisian suburbs.” — The New York Times

“The Godmother is witty, pithy and distinctively French with an emphasis on character development rather than action although there’s no shortage of that, either . . . Cayre is a first-rate novelist and she doesn’t waste a word in this excellent short novel with dealers, traffickers, cops and quirky Frenchmen all getting their time on the page. Compliments are also due to translator Stephanie Smee who keeps the pace going and seems to get the rhythm of the language in the original.” — The Globe and Mail

“Cayre is droll and without illusions about human nature. That she describes the lives and crimes of the petty drug dealers without social-working them is bracing. And she plots so cunningly she might have written the entire French TV series Spiral, or a compact version of The Wire.” — The Monthly

“The Godmother was sassy and fun and from the first page I was immediately smitten with our narrator, the Widow Portefeux . . . The pacing in The Godmother was excellent and the overall length of the novel was perfect, leaving me more than satisfied but wanting more. The translation by Smee was flawless and smooth. Cayre’s writing was wickedly funny and I found myself laughing out loud more than a few times.” — Crazy Book Lady Reviews blog

“Packed full of dark humor, keen observation, a suspenseful plot and a stand-out main character . . . I was instantly struck by the quality of the prose and the attendant storytelling . . . What a book!” — Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine

“It is refreshing and wonderful to read a novel with a middle-aged female protagonist, a woman who has had to compromise, strive, hustle, and work hard to keep herself and her kin alive and safe . . . The injustices and atrocities that Patience lays out are only bearable to read because she is so indifferent towards it all and, in the end, because she gets hers — and creates a little justice in the chaos.” — ArtsHub

“A unique plot, an interesting character and a look at the seamier side of the drug trade in France, made for an all-around good, quick read.” — Sleuth of Baker Street

“Even though the novel offers many gifts, Portefeux's winning story and voice is the glue that holds it together.” — Public Books