Before I Forget

An offbeat novel for anyone who’s ever loved a monster.

When Anne's father dies, she is left grieving a contradiction. Jean-Pierre was a man of many faces: the self-taught philosopher born into poverty; the Buddhist who marked his favorite haikus with maple leaves; the old romantic who ended every evening kissing a pixelated portrait of his late wife; and the violent bully, whose alcoholism marked his family's life in terrible ways.

Sorting through his belongings and making funeral preparations, Anne tries to come to terms with who and what she's lost. And what’s more, she can’t help but recognize herself in the father she spent so much of her life running from.

Anne Pauly is a writer working and living in Paris. Her first book, Avant que j’oublie (Éditions Verdier, 2019) was awarded the 2020 Prix du Livre Inter and Prix Robert Walser after shortlisting for the Prix Femina, Prix Wepler, and Prix Goncourt. Anne has since written short stories for several reviews, a televised series, and a play. She is currently finishing a second novel, while working on a play for the Théâtre du Nord along with seven other writers, including Virginie Despentes, Paul B. Preciado, and Julien Delmaire.

Dina Leifer is a London-based translator and writer. She switched career from journalism to translation in 2015 after gaining an MA in Translating Popular Culture. Her published translations include a children’s short story and a nonfiction book about Big Tech. She translated a novel for the first time in 2025, after winning the Stevns Translation Prize. Before I Forget by Anne Pauly will be published in late 2026. Dina’s first picture book, And Eddie Had an Egg, was published by Green Bean Books in 2025 after she won the 2023 UK Jewish Children’s Book Award.