The Penalty Area
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
"Gillot's novel about soccer is also a delicate character study of a solitary man slowly rejoining the world" (Publishers Weekly).
Vincent once had a shot at becoming a professional soccer player, but a career-ruining injury put an end to his dreams. A tough kid from a poor family, he has become an emotionally cut-off man with frustrated hopes and limited options. He finds himself coaching an under-sixteen soccer club in an attempt to keep alive his only passion.
The team he coaches is little more than a roster of hotheaded boys, none of whom understands the on-field chemistry needed to win. Simply put, they aren't of a championship caliber. Then Vincent's unemployed sister, a single mother, suddenly dumps her thirteen-year-old son on him. With no clue how to take care of a teenager, Vincent panics. He decides to bring his nephew to practice, and eventually throws him into the scrimmage.
It's then that Vincent notices there's something strange about Léonard. He has a preternatural ability for anticipating each striker's intentions, making him a remarkably talented goalkeeper, but he seems detached, absent, lost. It becomes clear that Léonard has undiagnosed Asperger's syndrome—and also that, with Léonard's abilities as a goalie, Vincent's ragtag team has a chance to reach the finals. The team will need to rally behind this strange kid from Paris in order to get there, and for that to happen, Vincent will have to let down his guard and open his heart for the first time ever.
"No love of sport is required to feel the genuine emotion pulsing from this story about making connections." —Shelf Awareness
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Expertly translated by Curtis, Gillot's novel about soccer is about more than the bruising arena of competitive sports. It is also a delicate character study of a solitary man slowly rejoining the world. Growing up, Vincent Barteau dreamed of being a professional soccer player. But that dream was crushed by a career-ending injury. Now Vincent keeps alive his connection to the sport by coaching a youth team in Sedan, France. One day, his circumscribed existence is shattered by the arrival of his estranged sister, Madeleine, a single mother who asks him to care for her 13-year-old son, Leonard, while she attends a job-training program. Vincent has had no experience caring for a teenager. But it turns out that the boy has a real talent as a soccer goalie and makes Vincent's team suddenly viable. Leonard is later diagnosed as having Asperger's syndrome. Thanks to the boy, Vincent begins to come out of his shell. Then, Madeleine reappears and says that she wants Leonard back. Throw in Vincent and Madeleine's dying mother and Leonard's confinement to a special home, and the scene is set for a dramatic climax that pulls out all the emotional stops. This is a short novel, but Vincent's redemption as a brother and surrogate father feels fully earned and free of false sentiment. Years ago, this novel would have made a wonderful vehicle for French star G rard Depardieu.
