Sad Tiger

Neige Sinno grew up in the foothills of the Alps with her mother, three younger siblings and her stepfather, who sexually abused her from the age of seven to fourteen. It wasn't until early adulthood that she found the courage to sue her predator – he confessed, was sentenced to nine years in prison, served five, and was released for good behaviour. He started a new, large family and seemingly left the dark period of his life behind. Unlike his victim, who cannot do the same.

In her novelistic essay, Sinno describes the abuse and subsequent trial that affected her life, marked her family relationships, and influenced the atmosphere of the small French town. She analyses how the trauma she experienced deformed her relationships with her mother, sisters and friends, and changed the way she perceives strangers, children, her own daughter and her upbringing.

Sad Tiger seeks a literary way to speak of the unspeakable and to protect others from what the author herself has lived through.

Published with the support of the French Institute.

Neige Sinno (1977) is a French writer, essayist, and translator. She studied American literature in France, the United States, and Mexico, where she then lived for more than twenty years and worked as a professor at the university in Morelia. Her third work, the novelistic essay Sad Tiger, has won a number of prestigious awards, including the Prix Femina, the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, and the Strega Prize.