The Reader on the 6.27

Book excerpt: An international bestseller from French author Jean-Paul Didierlaurent, The Reader on the 6.27 is ready to take you on a journey . . . Guylain Vignolles lives on the edge of existence. Working at a book pulping factory in a job he hates, he has but one pleasure in life . . . Sitting on the 6.27 train each day, Guylain recites aloud from pages he has saved from the jaws of his monstrous pulping machine. But it is when he discovers the diary of a lonely young woman, Julie – a woman who feels as lost in the world as he does – that his journey will truly begin . . . The Reader on the 6.27 is a tale bursting with larger-than-life characters, each of whom touches Guylain's life for the better. For fans of Amelie and Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore, this captivating novel is a warm, funny fable about literature's power to uplift even the most downtrodden of lives.