Georges Simenon (Author) Georges Simenon was born in Li ge, Belgium, in 1903. He is best known in Britain as the author of the Maigret novels and his prolific output of over 400 novels and short stories have made him a household name in continental Europe. He died in 1989 in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he had lived for the latter part of his life.
Sensuously detailed . . . edgy . . . this is incrementally more and more riveting, as the joyless sex between the two central characters leads to a grim conclusion . . . a nonpareil new translation -- Barry Forshaw * Financial Times * When I discovered that the author of the Maigret series was also the author of stand-alone novels, my expectations of the genre changed and expanded. These books belonged more alongside Camus and Sartre than Arthur Conan Doyle. . . . Try The Widow, published, like The Outsider, in 1942, and at least equal to Camus's work in portraying a doomed and alienated life -- David Hare * Guardian * Dark, disturbing . . . Simenon discovered something fundamental about the soul * Guardian * Direct, spare, sensously atmospheric, hypnotic in its realism, and honest in a way that few novelists would dare to be -- John Banville To me, Simenon is as good as Camus -- Hanif Kureishi * Guardian * Irresistible . . . read him at your peril, avoid him at your loss * The Sunday Times *