An intimate, captivating first novel that tells the story of a family in southern France whose lives are intertwined with the history of the AIDS crisis--and with the forgotten French doctors who are among the first to detect the virus.

It's 1981. As a wave of mysterious infections sweeps across the United States, a doctor in Paris encounters something unexpected: a case of a disease long thought to have been eradicated. It matches what is happening across the Atlantic--and thus begins a race to make sense of a deadly virus, one that will define a generation.

Miles away, in rural France, Anthony Passeron's family is dealing with a crisis of their own. Their small village is gripped by another epidemic: heroin addiction. Anthony's uncle D?sir?, once the pride of the family, has become one of the "sleeping children." Often found unconscious on street corners, he is now a stranger to his family. As D?sir?'s life descends into chaos, the thunder of the AIDS crisis grows closer. These two stories--one intimate, one global--are about to collide.

Anthony Passeron's moving novel is also an eye-opening story about shame and the slow poisoning that secrets can inflict on a family. Exploring the stories of the heroic few who fought not only for a cure but for justice for an abandoned community, Sleeping Children is a radical vision of a history reshaped, retold, and remembered.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 04/29/2025
ISBN: 9780374612269
Pages: 208
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 8.25h x 5.38w x 1.00d

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 02/10/2025