The brilliant Amelie Nothomb, a world-famous Belgian writer, publishes a novel every year. This book includes the last two - the twenty-ninth and thirtieth, both partly autobiographical. Balloons is the story of a Brussels student named Ange. Having undertaken to give literature lessons to a lyceum graduate, she finds herself in the strange, almost unreal setting of a rich mansion, where her sixteen-year-old student is kept virtually locked up. Reading great books brings them closer together. Both are struggling to find their place in modern life and are somewhat reminiscent of the old balloons that a teenager in love with his teacher is fascinated by. “Ange is me at nineteen,” Nothomb admitted in an interview. “First Blood” is a novel about the writer’s father, a prominent diplomat, who died suddenly in 2020. Finding himself hostage to Congolese rebels, the young Belgian consul Patrick Nothomb stands in front of a firing squad awaiting execution and remembers every minute of the twenty-eight years of his life - childhood, youth, love. Amelie seems to look at the world through the eyes of her father and, reproducing his confession, turns it into a thriller. The novel was awarded the Renaudo Prize in France, and in Italy one of the main literary awards in Europe - the Strega Prize. The publishing layout of the book is saved in PDF A4 format.