Join us to celebrate the launch of Penarth-based author Sophie Buchaillard’s second novel Assimiliation, a multi-generational historical drama full of mystery and secrets.

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One family’s story set against the backdrop of some of the biggest political and humanitarian events of the century. A tale of unravelling family secrets, belonging, betrayal and inherited trauma. A book that transports you in time and place through one family’s history and struggle with its colonial roots.

Marianne: a mother with a colourful past, keeping a terrible secret, tries her best to conform to French middle class expectations.
Charlotte: young and fiercely independent, desperately needs to escape dreadful trauma and a country she does not feels she belongs to. She leaves France and arrives in Wales, hoping to find peace and somewhere to rebuild her life. 

Assimiliation explores the challenges of identity, belonging and womanhood, and the stories we tell in order to fit in.

Originally from Paris, SOPHIE BUCHAILLARD is a writer, educator, campaigner, and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her short stories, poetry and essays have appeared in a wide array of literary magazines and newspapers and explore the themes of identity and connection in response to migration, mental health and trauma. Her debut novel, This is Not Who We Are (Seren Books), was shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year 2023, and featured as one of Wales Arts Review top ten novels of 2022. Assimilation (Honno, 2024) is her second novel. Sophie lives in Penarth, South Wales.