The Electric Baths

Fortier (The Unknown Huntsman) threads reality with dreams in this enchanting tale about a small unnamed village full eccentric characters and secrets. When Louise Beurre mysteriously returns home after having run off with a circus to Paris 13 years earlier, she drops right back into the claustrophobic village life of the gossips, widows, and neighbors she originally hoped to escape. There is Bella, a widow who places ads in newspapers for potential rich new husbands; Renée, who works at a grand manor house and checks on its unused hydrotherapeutic electric baths every night; a forest witch who points her curses in everyone’s directions; and Old Mr. Roux, the village’s gossipmonger who routinely turns up to deliver snippets of juicy news whether it’s wanted or not. The book is not placed in a specific time, and though not much happens, bits of recognizable potpourri like the Fantômas silent film or the early-20th-century card game belote give the setting an air of the late Belle Époque. Fortier’s tale is slim and wispy with curious characters and effortless prose, yet like a dream, a few pieces are still missing. (July)