The Years (Les Années)

The true first is the French Les Années (Gallimard, Collection Blanche, 7 February 2008) — the book serious Ernaux collectors want. English buyers should note a common trap: the first English edition was NOT the well-known UK Fitzcarraldo printing. Alison L. Strayer's translation was first published in the US by Seven Stories Press (New York) as a paperback on 21 November 2017 (ISBN 9781609807870); the Fitzcarraldo Editions UK edition (ISBN 9781910695791) followed on 20 June 2018. So the Seven Stories 2017 printing is the true first in English; Fitzcarraldo is the first UK edition. Strayer's translation won the 2018 French-American Foundation Translation Prize (non-fiction) and was shortlisted for the 2019 International Booker Prize.