Jonathan Littell’s new novel, L'héritage, delves into themes of trauma, inheritance, and personal identity through the experiences of its narrator, Maxime A., who shares his name with his father, who committed suicide when he was a child. The story explores the shared trauma between Maxime and his twin sister, focusing on their childhood and the emotional distance that grows between them. Their mother, after the father’s death, becomes emotionally distant, often returning late from outings with men, accompanied by a "brief cracked laugh, a disgusting giggle of pleasure." The family home includes the father's office, where he would retreat to write and reflect on his collection of photographs of naked women. A wardrobe in this office holds the manuscripts he left behind. As a young adult, Maxime moves into the apartment his father once occupied in the city, a place he had imagined as his own bachelor pad. However, he soon discovers he will become a father himself. The novel questions the nature of life as a series of encounters that can change its course and the degree of control an individual has over their own path. L'héritage continues the thematic exploration found in Littell’s earlier work, Une vieille histoire. Nouvelle version (Gallimard, 2018), examining human relationships in the context of family, love, sex, and solitude. The country in which the story is set is not clearly named, but it is described as a place where it is "dangerous" to chant "Liberty! Equality! Fraternity!" and where a war casts a shadow. A boy is shown pulling out a handful of shells and bones from his pocket, hinting at a deeper, more troubling reality. The narrative gradually introduces fragments of nightmares, which seem to appear without the narrator's awareness, until the night deepens and the clock reads: "It is too late!" The intensity of children's games, described as "too agitated to stay in [their] skin," seeps into every aspect of the story, creating a pervasive sense of unease. Littell, often associated with his controversial previous novel Les Bienveillantes, may not reach the same expansive scope with L'héritage, but it still has the power to resonate with those drawn to melancholic themes. Published by Gallimard, the novel has a print run of 15,000 copies, priced at 23 €, and spans 464 pages. Its ISBN is 9782073167422.