Lilian Bathelot

Aven

May 7, 2026
Novel
208 pages
18,90 €
9782385533496
978-2-3855-3349-6
																Lilian Bathelot, Aven
																Lilian Bathelot, Aven

Prehistory. Orhak is a respected shaman, but her status is shaken by several bad seasons for the clan of the middle highlands… until one day, while searching for a cave cistern, she discovers an extraordinary cavity. Late 19th century. Louis Armand is a blacksmith who loves his limestone plateaus. Together with the inventor of speleology, E. A. Martel, they discover the most beautiful caves. One of them will bear Louis’s name and become famous… but its mysteries will remain buried long after his death. Present day. Fanny is a freelance journalist for a major newspaper. Her friend Élodie is a guide at the Aven Armand cave. Her grandfather is none other than Louis Armand, whose private journals detailing his explorations she discovers hidden in the cellar of her house. Before she has time to read them, she entrusts them to Fanny for an article… Three eras, and the same mystery that spans the ages around a unique place where reality borders on magic.

Aven reveals an unsuspected universe in a breath of adventure and suspense, where the rugged landscape of the Causse Méjan becomes the guardian of the secret memory of humans across the centuries.

The author

Born in 1959 in the south of France, Lilian Bathelot was a fire-eater and philosophy teacher. In 1997, he began writing and became the author of a varied body of work ranging from crime novels to children’s literature and plays. In 2024, he published Geronimo et moi with 10/18.

Highlights

An adventure novel firmly rooted in a spectacular setting that is unique in the world.

A narrative structure with different layers of time, masterfully crafted.

A book produced in partnership with the Aven-Armand company.

May 7, 2026
Novel
208 pages
18,90 €
9782385533496
978-2-3855-3349-6