Sunday book pick: A schoolboy’s skiing holiday goes horribly wrong in the 1995 novella, ‘Class Trip’

Narrated in the third person, Class Trip by Emmanuel Carrère presents the perspective of Nicolas, a young boy in secondary school, somewhere between the ages of 10 and twelve. It is the month of February and his class will be spending a fortnight at a skiing resort. Nicolas’s father agrees to send him – but on one condition: his son won’t be taking the bus with the other boys; he will drop Nicolas off in his car. The teacher expounds on the value of self-dependence and camaraderie among the young boys, but his father is unmoved.

At the chalet

Nicolas is shy and small for his age, and though he is not actively bullied, he is aware of his status as an outsider. His parents’ overprotective nature – especially his father’s – has not gone unnoticed by the rest of the boys. In addition to this, he has only recently joined the school. After driving 300 miles with his father in near silence, Nicolas finally arrives at the chalet, later than everyone else. His father insists he call home regularly and instructs the teacher to ensure his well-being. As if the mortification of an overbearing father wasn’t enough, Nicolas is distressed to realise that he has...

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