Merci pour ce moment (English:Thank you for this moment) is a 2014 best-selling political memoir authored by Valérie Trierweiler, a French journalist and the former partner of French President François Hollande.
Summary In this political memoir, French journalist Valérie Trierweiler recounts the eighteen months she spent as the romantic partner of French President François Hollande in 2013–2014.Trierweiler publie un livre où se mêlent l'intime et la politique, Le Monde, 03 September 2014 The book mixes the political and the personal.
Trierweiler writes that President Hollande "does not like the poor" and calls them "toothless."Andrew Marszal David Chazan, French booksellers refuse to stock Valerie Trierweiler's 'dirty laundry' memoirs, The Daily Telegraph, 6 September 2014Ella Alexander, Valerie Trierweiler claims she was drugged with 'astronomical doses of tranquillisers' to prevent her from Francois Hollande affair scandal, The Independent, 5 September 2014 She also writes about finding out about his affair with French actress Julie Gayet from the press.Catherine Schwaab, Valérie Trierweiler, "Ma vie avec François", Paris Match, 03 September 2014AFP, Valérie Trierweiler publie un livre sur sa vie à l'Elysée, Liberation, 02 September 2014 She goes on to suggest he kept her on "astronomical" amounts of tranquilizers in hospital shortly after they broke up to make sure she would not make a scene.
Critical reception In France, the book became a bestseller, selling 200,000 copies during the first week. However, many bookshops refused to sell it, arguing they did not want to be an "outlet for Ms Trierweiler's dirty laundry."
In The Guardian, Kim Willsher criticised Trierweiler for publishing the book, asking, "Why would an intelligent, sophisticated woman, and a former political journalist to boot, write a book that causes random harm to so many, including the author, and does such a great disservice to women?"Kim Willsher, Valérie Trierweiler’s book is captivating France – for all the wrong reasons, The Guardian, 6 September 2014
The English version was translated by Clémence Sebag.Hadley Freeman, Thank You for This Moment by Valérie Trierweiler review – a triumph of self-obsessed raving, The Guardian, 10 December 2014 It was scheduled to be released in the United States.Delphine Perez, Valérie Trierweiler : son livre sortira aux Etats-Unis, Le Parisien, 05 September 2014 The book has also been translated into Italian, Spanish, Albanian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Vietnamese and Persian.
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