Lila Says

By Anonymous, Translated by Chimo

An erotic, explosive novel of contemporary urban youth, written with a stunning blend of raw immediacy and poetic skill.

From their first encounter, the elusive 16-year-old Lila seduces Chimo with words. Is she talking from experience or revelling in fantasy? In this journal, Chimo records their meetings with dissarming simplicity and an eroticism that is never sensationalised. Fraught with tension, this gripping novel builds inexorably to tragedy. At the same time Chimo offers acerbically witty insights into the lifestyle of the grim suburban estate where he and Lila live. Alongside the shocking ironies of Lila’s story, and the vivid portrait of contemporary urban life, LILA SAYS creates romance and beauty in a setting where such gifts would appear to be conspicuous by their absence. With the appeal of such erotic bestsellers as DAMAGE or THE BUTCHER but more powerful than either, this is an unmissable and unforgettable novel.

Format: Paperback
Release Date: 20 Mar 1997
Pages: 176
ISBN: 978-1-85702-564-4
The identity of the author is a mystery. The manuscript was sent to the French publishers anonymously, via a lawyer. It was handwritten on exercise books. ‘Chimo’, the narrator of these journals, is a 19-year-old second-generation Arab immigrant living in an unidentified Parisian suburb.