French writer and intellectual Pascal Bruckner is to visit Bucharest for the launch of his latest novel La maison des anges (The House of Angels) in Romania. He will meet readers and lead a discussion in the Cărtureşti bookshop on April 4.

Bruckner's latest novel, his first fictional novel for a number of years, follows Parisian estate agent Antonin Dampierre, who begins the story as an ostensibly normal thirty-something. But his failure to sell an expensive apartment because, he believes, two drunken vagrants were outside the building drives him into a rage, which results in him beating one of the hapless pair to death. After this incident, he starts on a serial-killing crusade to cleanse Paris' streets of the destitute, which he furthers by working at the Maison des anges homeless center. Bruckner uses the plot to explore themes around poverty, at the same time presenting and criticizing the darker truths of 21st Century Paris.

The debate at Cărtureşti Verona bookshop starts at 18:00 and Pascal Bruckner will be joined by literary critic Simona Sora, journalist Luca Niculescu and editorial director of Editurii Trei, Magdalena Mărculescu.

Born in Paris in 1948, Pascal Bruckner has become well-known in France as a writer. He also lectures and writes on philosophy and current affairs. Bruckner has caused some controversy in recent years with what has been viewed by some as criticism of the Islamic faith. Some of his best known works in Romania are Parias, Les voleurs de beauté and Le divin enfant. His latest novel was published in France at the beginning of the year La maison des anges by Grasset.

Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com