Sleeping Children

Sleeping Children (French: Les Enfants endormis) is a 2022 novel by French writer Anthony Passeron, which won, the Prix Wepler, the Prix Première RTBF and more than a dozen others. Autobiographical, it tells two parallel stories: the emergence and fight against HIV in French hospitals between 1981 and 2008, and the story of a family of provincial merchants faced with denial, silence, and the weight of social scrutiny. He began writing the book in 2017 while teaching at a high school and says he thought of his students: he researched and accurately described the progress of scientific research. The book is divided into two parts: each even-numbered chapter focuses on the author's family background, told 40 years after the death of his uncle 'Désiré', while the odd-numbered chapters focus on the progress of AIDS research. The story opens with the author's family, particularly Désiré, a charismatic young man admired within his community. Over time, following a trip to Amsterdam and some unfortunate encounters, Désiré descends into heroin addiction, which shocks the family. The family experiences a gradual tragedy, punctuated by desperate efforts to save him. This struggle is directed not only against drugs, but also against the gaze of others and the weight of appearances in a small rural community. When Désiré contracts HIV through the use of contaminated needles, it is a new ordeal for the family. The disease invades their daily lives, shattering their certainties and forcing everyone to confront a tragic reality they can no longer hide.