Laurent Binet Books in Order

Binet reconstructs the resistance operation targeting Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich in occupied Prague while questioning how history can be narrated. This historical novel intertwines the mission's participants and preparations with the author's reflections on research and invention.

This satirical novel imagines Roland Barthes's fatal accident as a possible murder linked to a missing linguistic manuscript. A detective and his academic companion pursue a conspiracy through intellectual circles, seeking a power that could transform persuasion.

In this alternate history, early transatlantic contact changes the balance of power and Inca emperor Atahualpa reaches sixteenth-century Europe. Religious conflicts, rival monarchies, and social unrest provide opportunities as the novel reverses the familiar narrative of conquest.

Painter Jacopo da Pontormo is murdered in Renaissance Florence, and an obscene portrait implicates the duke’s daughter. Art historian Giorgio Vasari investigates through a web of correspondence, where artistic rivalries and political schemes complicate the search for a killer.