Madame tells the story of a self-absorbed Polish teenager as he pursues intellectual maturity, and the woman of his dreams, his French teacher 'Madame', in the communist-dominated Warsaw of the early 1970s.

Libera paces his exuberant young hero's fulminations, fantasies and discoveries beautifully, building a remarkably subtle characterisation of a free mind in a repressive culture. This is one of those rare novels which reminds us why we love books. A consummate literary entertainment.

"Essentially a vision of a life-changing teenage crush, Libera's debut novel . . . captures the frustrations of grasping for anything of the world from behind the Iron Curtain and of battling or passion of any kind." - * The Scotsman *

"Madame is skilfully written and the subtle backdrop of communism is interesting and convincing." - * The List *

"This is an old story made fresh with an excellent evocation of a spirit-crushing school system - a microcosm of communist rule under which the layers of life are corrupted by concessions, compromises and deceptions." - * The Times *