Femme Actuelle has had a privileged relationship with Michel Bussi for a long time. "I love slipping into women's shoes" he confided to us in 2021, when Nothing does not erase you (Presses de la cité editions, 456 pages, €21.90). During a snack shared with Faustine Bollaert at Femme Actuelle, he described what he can now afford thanks to the sales of his books and confided that he would like to write songs for a candidate for "The Voice". “I like dead silences”, he slipped at the turn of a deadly interview for the publication of We found her rather pretty (Presses de la Cité). “I lead a double life”, he still had fun throwing us, playfully.

If he were not so modest, Michel Bussi could boast of being ranked fourth among the most read authors in France in 2021 (according to the annual Le Figaro-GfK ranking). At the end of January 2022, he preferred to take the microphone to send a very special message to the readers of Current Woman. And let you discover a preview of Nouvelle Babel, his new novel to be published by Presses de la Cité on February 3, 2022 (456 p., €21.90). You will see it is a thriller full of suspense, totally addictive which will make you travel in various lands but also in time since it takes place in 2097, in a world where you can move almost at the speed of thought. It's been eight years now that this geography teacher has taken us from thriller to thriller... For our greatest pleasure. Good reading!

For you, just for you!

"Registan Square, Samarkand

Cleo opened her eyes wide and admired the stunning Registan Square in Samarkand. The rosettes on the paved floor seemed drawn with white and pink chalk, the better to sublimate the three medersas which faced each other, in a riot of sparkling mosaics, turquoise domes and minarets resembling fairytale palace towers.

- It's ... it's beautiful! Why have I never been here before?

Lilio lightly pressed his hand against the small of the young woman's back, to urge her to move on, not without letting his gaze also flicker over the monumental porches of the three ancient Koranic universities and the hundreds of tourists who paced the square, cou twisted, mouth agape and camera glasses on his nose, recording their fondest memories in an instant.

— The cradle of cultures, specified the journalist. One of the oldest cities in the world, the meeting point between East and West, the crossroads of all major religions, long before teleportation was invented! Come on, we're not hanging around.

Cleo pushed the bike she was holding by the handlebars, without quickening her pace.

"Why hurry?" We teleported here with an anonymous TPC. We are drowned in the crowd of tourists. Let's take the time to admire, no one can spot us!

- Nobody ?

Lilio, with a nod of his chin, indicated the onlookers who were leaving the multicolored facades of the three medersas to observe with astonishment the two bicycles that the journalist and the young woman were rolling beside them. A ten-year-old boy tugged at his father's sleeve, pointing his finger at the strange two-wheeled devices they were driving around.

'They've never seen bicycles?' Cleo whispered.

She pushed her bicycle faster.

- Guess not.

"But what are the teachers doing?" Cleo quipped. The children in my class have all already…

- Come ! cut Lilio.

He had spotted a quieter street, behind the Cher-Dor medersa.

"The historical heart of Samarkand is not very extensive," continued the journalist. Tourists are content to admire Registan Square and visit Tamerlane's tomb. The rest of the city is as deserted as the favelas of Rio.

- It promises !

They steered their bikes down the narrow alley, then down a maze of other streets. Despite Lilio's assertions, they repeatedly passed walkers just as lost as themselves, who opened their eyes wide in amazement as they almost had their feet crushed by the tires of the four wheels.

"Maybe we better get on them right now and get out of this damn maze?" Cleo suggested.

"Are you kidding?" This is exactly what to do if you want to be transformed into a freak and see our photo appear on all social networks. Hardly anyone has ever seen a human being perched on something like that!

Cleo shrugged.

- Yeah ... Above all say that you are afraid of being ridiculous! By pedaling, we would already be far away.

"Shut up and push!" Look, here's an exit.

In front of them, the road stretched between a few last high buildings several stories high, before skirting ocher mud houses that seemed abandoned for hundreds of years. The track then continued due north, straight, lined with grass and trees, towards the silhouettes of desert mountains that closed the horizon.

New Babel by Michel Bussi, ed. Presses de la Cité, 456 pages, €21.90

Read also: Michel Bussi's deadly interview: "I like dead silences"