Éliette Abécassis

Éliette Abécassis
Born	(1969-01-27) January 27, 1969 Strasbourg, France
Occupation(s)	Author, philosophy lecturer
Years active	1996–present
Known for	Novels such as Qumran, L'Or et la Cendre, La Répudiée; philosophy lectures at University of Caen Normandy

Éliette Abécassis (born 27 January 1969) is a French author of Moroccan-Jewish heritage and serves as a philosophy lecturer at the University of Caen Normandy.

Biography

Originating from Strasbourg, France, Abécassis was raised in a devout Moroccan Jewish household. Her father, Armand Abécassis, a distinguished philosophy academic and influential Jewish intellectual associated with the Aquiba school in Strasbourg, played a significant role in her intellectual formation. Her mother, Janine, is an expert in child and developmental psychology. Éliette’s early life was deeply rooted in Sephardic religious customs, which she both honored and sought to move beyond, ultimately embracing the ideals of French universalism.

At seventeen, she relocated to Paris to attend preparatory literary classes at Lycée Henri-IV before enrolling at the École normale supérieure, where she obtained the agrégation in philosophy and later taught at the University of Caen. At twenty-three, she received a scholarship to study at Harvard University, during which time she began crafting her first novel.

Her debut work, Qumran (1996), is a metaphysical detective narrative centered on the Dead Sea Scrolls, resulting from three years of comprehensive research conducted across American libraries and Jewish cultural institutions. Although initially rejected by prominent publishers, Ramsay editions eventually published the novel, which gained considerable acclaim and was translated into eighteen languages.

In 1997, she released L'Or et la Cendre, a murder mystery set against the backdrop of Berlin, also through Ramsay editions. The subsequent year saw the publication of an essay titled Little Metaphysics of Murder with Presses Universitaires de France, exploring philosophical perspectives on evil and homicide.

Her 2000 novel La Répudiée, inspired by Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai's movie Kadosh, earned the Prize of Believing Writers in 2001. That same year, she published Le Trésor du temple, continuing the Qumran trilogy that merges adventurous storytelling with scholarly insight. Additionally, she co-wrote and directed the short film La Nuit de noces in 2001.

Further works include Mon père (2002), which investigates father-daughter relationships; Clandestin (2003), which was shortlisted for the Prix Goncourt; and The Last Tribe (2004), concluding the Qumran series. In 2005, she explored motherhood in Un heureux événement and directed the documentary-fiction piece Tel Aviv la vie.

Her 2009 novel Sépharade examines Sephardic Jewish identity within Morocco. The 2011 publication Et te voici permise à tout homme addresses the complexities surrounding religious divorce procedures.

Later titles feature Le Palimpseste d'Archimède (2013), Un secret du docteur Freud (2014) co-authored with her psychoanalyst mother, and Alyah (2015), reflecting on Jewish identity following attacks in Île-de-France. The 2018 historical-religious thriller Le maître du Talmud is set in 13th-century France during a period marked by growing Inquisition activity and fanaticism.

Éliette Abécassis is divorced and has two children.

Women's rights activism

Eliette Abécassis participates actively in organizations dedicated to women's rights, such as SOS les Mamans. Alongside lawyer Marie-Anne Frison-Roche and philosopher Sylviane Agacinski, she has campaigned against surrogacy practices, condemning them as commodification of female bodies and objectification of children.

Books

• Qumran (1996)
• L'Or et la cendre (1997)
• Petite Métaphysique du meurtre (1998)
• La Répudiée (2000)
• Le Trésor du temple (2001)
• Mon père (2002)
• Sacred (2002)
• Clandestin (2003)
• La Dernière Tribu (2004)
• Un heureux événement (2005)
• Le Corset invisible (2007)
• Mère et fille, un roman (2008)
• Sépharade (2009)
• Le Messager (2009) (in collaboration with Mark Crick)
• Et te voici permise à tout homme (2011)
• Le palimpseste d'archimède (2013)
• Un secret du docteur Freud (2014)
• Alyah (2015)
• Le Maître du Talmud (2018)
• L'Envie d'y croire: journal d'une époque sans foi (2019)
• No's rendez-vous (2020)
• If only, Arctis Books, 2023

Contributions

• Lettres à Dieu, Calmann-Lévy (2004)

• Included in the short story anthology La Rencontre, Éditions Prisma (2010), alongside Marek Halter, Camilla Läckberg, Didier Van Cauwelaert, Claudie Gallay, and Agnès Desarthe.

• Featured in Enfances, adolescences, Librio (2015).

Feminist writings

Abécassis has produced several works addressing women's rights, advocating through multiple organizations. Particularly notable is her 2007 publication, Le Corset invisible, co-authored with Caroline Bongrand, which examines contemporary societal constraints on women:

“With the rise of feminism, the traditional corset disappeared from our closets. Today, our bodies and movements enjoy freedom. Yet, our physical selves and minds remain trapped within an unseen corset—exhaustion from chores, restrictive diets, and evolving beauty ideals govern us. Despite apparent liberation from male dominance, women’s thoughts continue to be restricted by societal norms.”

In 2018, she released Bébés à vendre, a critical discourse on surrogacy that exposes the commercialization of female bodies.

Children's literature

Her portfolio includes several children’s titles such as T'es plus ma maman, and Je ne veux pas dormir. Additionally, she collaborated with her daughter to create the digital storybook Lulu veut être chanteuse, available on the Whisperies platform.

Director

• 2001: Directed the twelve-minute short film La nuit de noce, starring Samuel Le Bihan and Isild Le Besco.

• 2007: Co-directed the documentary Tel Aviv la vie with Tiffany Tavernier.

Screenwriter

• 1999: Authored the screenplay for Kadosh, directed by Amos Gitaï.

Film adaptations of her books

• 2011: Adapted her novel into the film Un heureux événement, directed by Rémi Bezançon.

Music

Abécassis has contributed as a lyricist for the French rock band Debout sur le zinc and penned the song La chanson Sépharade performed by Enrico Macias.

Awards

In 2001, the novel La Répudiée (2000) was honored with the Prix Écritures & Spiritualités.

The Alberto Benveniste Prize was awarded in 2010 for the novel Sépharade (2010).