Amélie Nothomb (born in 1967), a prolific and popular Belgian author, signed in 2021 an original and very personal book Premier sang which earned her the prestigious Prix Renaudot and the critical recognition she undoubtedly deserved. It is in the form of a tale and a biography that the author tries to place herself in the footsteps of her father Patrick Nothomb who died in 2020. Sweet angelic child who suffers from an absent father, it is during a violent episode of decolonization that he must confront death. A hero in the shadows, he will become a renowned diplomat with an outstanding career. The novel is also an opportunity for a tender and zany immersion in the world of this aristocratic family with very strange customs. Amélie Nothomb pays a magnificent tribute to the father figure whose mourning she is trying to exorcise and, as is often the case with her, the writing is willingly therapeutic in a style that is always as precise as it is caustic.