Make Me Famous

Maud Ventura lives in Paris. Before devoting herself to writing full-time, she led the podcast division of one of France's major radio stations. My Husband, her first novel, was a #1 bestseller in France and has been translated into more than ten languages.Gretchen Schmid is the translator of several novels and works of nonfiction for both children and adults from French into English, including Kannjawou by Lyonel Trouillot, nominated for an Albertine Prize, and Suddenly by Isabelle Autissier. She holds a degree in French literature from Columbia University and studied translation at New York University. She lives in New York and works in publishing, with a particular focus on literature in translation.

"Ventura’s sharp knowing satire of celebrity culture is hit material." — People"The exact thing we need right now: a fierce, fearless, and funny novel about celebrity and our almost pathological obsession with it. A literary rock star in France, Ventura’s second novel should win her a horde of fans here." — Kate Tuttle, Boston Globe"A masterpiece of cruelty. A thrilling read of our contemporary neuroses." — Psychologies Magazine"A conclusion that’s as unexpected as it is breathtaking … relentless and exhilarating." — Version Femina"Flits with just the right amount of lightness, but also cynicism and even cruelty … funny and biting." — La Croix"What will keep people reading is the calculated, purposeful, near-obsessive dedication with which Clèo pursues her titular goal. The final twist is a thoroughly satisfying payoff for everything that has come before." — Bookreporter.com"Make Me Famous is brutal and thought-provoking, a rare page-turner that also invites the reader to consider deeper meanings of public images and private personas." — Booklist (starred review)"Totally absorbing. I read this in one sitting." — Angourie Rice“Don't miss. Had me weeping with laughter . . . [and] will have you thinking hard about the meaning of love.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune on My Husband“Delicious.” — The Millions on My Husband"Smashing … Cleo's voice is bracing and undeniable, and Ventura pulls it all together with a shocking and deeply satisfying ending. This is unforgettable." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)"Gripping." — CrimeReads"Maud Ventura has given us an exhilarating and fanciful study of celebrity while questioning the fundamental failings of our time." — Vanity Fair"Fierce and funny … exploding the boundaries between private life and marketing." — Madame Figaro“This riveting emotional thriller requires serious willpower to not devour in a single sitting.” — Oprah Daily on My Husband“Irresistible. . . . Thrilling. . . . Ramadan's exacting translation holds the reader in her grip. . . . A bold and memorable first outing.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) on My Husband“Ventura very cleverly explores themes of paranoia, class, and, above all, obsessive love through the couple’s everyday neuroses, building their significance (and their darkness) to keep readers in suspense. The translation by Ramadan adeptly conveys both the setting and the growing tension. Fans of Caroline Kepnes' You (2014) or Gillian Flynn will find My Husband to be a new, satisfying, and unnerving take on the relationship-suspense genre.” — Booklist (starred review) on My Husband“An incisive character study of a woman's complicated interiority. . . . The author's finely crafted scenes reveal so much more than the narrator intends to share, and she expertly ratchets up the tension until nerves are unbearably frayed. . . . Ventura's cleverly constructed, one-sided portrait of a marriage delivers a breathtaking conclusion that is as unexpected as it is deviously brilliant.” — Shelf Awareness on My Husband“If you obsessively reread (or, let’s be real, rewatched) Gone Girl, then this darkly comic French novel about a woman so deeply besotted with her picture-perfect husband that she goes to some truly crazy lengths to keep him within her clutches is almost sure to resonate with you.” — Vogue on My Husband“What a wonderfully tense, obsessive, enveloping novel—almost like a feminist, introspective spin on Fatal Attraction! Ventura’s deftly spun debut is a sharply observed dissection of marriage that will haunt you for days.” — Virginia Feito, author of Mrs. March, on My Husband