It’s not quite the scrapings from Bob Marley’s bin, but Fitzcarraldo have certainly maximised the distribution of Annie Ernaux’s less renowned bits and bobs since the French author won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2022. After some slimmer volumes comes the first English translation of The Use Of Photography, originally published in 2005 as L’Usage De La Photo: a further slice of memoir dealing this time with Ernaux’s burgeoning relationship with mysterious snapper Marc Marie, while simultaneously navigating treatment for breast cancer, heatwaves, and a pending invasion of Iraq.

Both take snapshots of their discarded clothes-strewn floors; both pen words summing up their tangled feelings as things deepen and mutate. It’s all incredibly French of course, and enthralling and knotty and romantic amongst the ennui. The photos, flat and prosaic, lead to meditations and memories that incrementally build a fine portrait of love and aging.

But the real revelation is Marc Marie’s writing, growing slowly to meet Ernaux’s sparse voice, the two becoming oddly similar, both contemplating sex and death with dour élan. Ernaux recovered and thrived, Marie died 20 years later, and The Use Of Photography aspics their stumbling passion beautifully.