Lives Other Than My Own: A Memoir

SELECTED BY THE NEW YORK TIMES AS ONE OF THE 50 BEST MEMOIRS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS

A singular, deeply moving memoir of human connection in the wake of devastating loss, by the "prodigiously talented" (The New York Review of Books) Emmanuel Carrère.

In Sri Lanka, a tsunami sweeps a child out to sea, her grandfather helpless against the onrushing water. In France, a woman succumbs to cancer, leaving a hole in the lives of her loved ones. Present at both events is Emmanuel Carrère, who sets out to tell the story of two families shattered and ultimately restored. What he accomplishes is nothing short of a literary miracle: a heartrending narrative of endless love, a meditation on courage and decency in the face of adversity, and an intimate and reverent look at the extraordinary beauty and nobility of ordinary lives. As he tells the stories of those touched by loss--most memorably, an unsentimental, one-legged judge who has made a career of fighting for France's most vulnerable--Carrère himself, a longtime chronicler of his own tormented psyche, unexpectedly finds consolation and fulfillment in immersing himself in the lives of others.

Author: Emmanuel Carrère
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
Published: 09/08/2026
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.45lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.30w x 0.70d
ISBN13: 9781250473950
ISBN10: 1250473950
BISAC Categories:
- Biography & Autobiography | Literary Figures
- Biography & Autobiography | Memoirs
- Family & Relationships | Death, Grief, Bereavement

About the Author

Emmanuel Carrère, born in Paris in 1957, is a novelist, journalist, screenwriter, and film producer. He is the award-winning, internationally renowned author of V13, Yoga, 97,196 Words, The Kingdom, Limonov, The Mustache, Class Trip, The Adversary (a New York Times Notable Book), My Life as a Russian Novel, and Lives Other Than My Own, which was awarded the Globe de Cristal for Best Novel in 2010. For Limonov, Carrère received the Prix Renaudot and the Prix des Prix Littéraires in 2011 and the Europese Literatuurprijs in 2013.

Linda Coverdale is the award-winning translator of many French works and has been honored with the rank of Chevalier in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for her contribution to French literature.