A novel set free
This book travels
Found Que la terre nous soit légère in a public book box? Someone left it there for you. Not by chance. By conviction.
Each copy carries a handwritten message from the author, a date, a place. Yours has a story. And that story continues with you.
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copies in the wild
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How it works
Joan leaves a book
With a handwritten message, a date, a place. In a book box, on a bench, in a cafe, at the station.
You find it
By chance, by curiosity, by destiny. 584 pages of travel between Africa, the Mediterranean and Europe await you.
The book moves on
When you're done, leave it somewhere new. The journey continues. Each reader adds a chapter to the story.
Help this book travel
Each point marks a book looking for its reader. Tap the map to mark where you found it.
39 copies in the wild
What readers say
Unexpected encounters, love at first page, sleepless nights. Every copy has its story.
"I found this book in the box at Lausanne station. 584 pages later, I left it in Montreux so it could continue its journey. A novel that won't let you go."
- Marie, 34, Lausanne
"Found it by chance in Brittany. Started out of curiosity. Impossible to put down. It's rare to find a book that makes you laugh and cry in the same chapter. A bit long at times, but all is forgiven."
- Thomas, 42, Nantes
"I almost never read novels. This one was given to me by a book box in Plainpalais. Three days later I'd finished it. Now I'm looking for the next Bastide."
- Claire, 28, Geneva
"Africa told as I'd never read it before. Without condescension, with a depth and tenderness that moved me deeply. This book should be in every library."
- Aminata, 31, Paris
"Found this book in a beach hut on Île de Ré. The best holiday companion I've had in years. My wife stole it from me before I could finish. 584 pages, just so you know."
- Jean-Pierre, 67, Île de Ré
"A friend had told me about this novel. Finding it by chance in a book box felt like a sign. 584 pages of pure humanity. You come out of it changed."
- Yves, 56, Annecy
Why public book boxes
There is something profoundly subversive about a public book box. You deposit a piece of yourself — 584 pages of sweat, doubt, sleepless nights — in a small wooden cabinet, with no idea who will come to take them.
No transaction. No algorithm. No five-star review to reassure you. Just a book waiting, exposed to rain and absent-minded glances, until a hand reaches for it.
The book market is saturated. 70,000 new titles per year in France alone. For a small publishing house with no budget, no press officer, no distribution network, conventional channels are closed. So we do things differently. We go to readers directly, one by one, box by box. Just an author, a book, and the conviction that quality always finds its way.
I love book boxes because they resemble what literature should always be: an unconditional gift. A book is not a product. It's a conversation between two people who may never meet.
Every copy I leave in a box is a wager: that someone, somewhere, needed exactly this story, on exactly this day.
"A book, like a baobab, doesn't grow for itself. It grows for those who will come to shelter under its branches."
When you've finished reading, don't let this book gather dust on a shelf. Give it wings again. Leave it in a book box, give it to someone, leave it on a bench.
0+ books in the wild
Goal: 100 copies
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The author
Joan Bastide, the Baobab Man. Writer, musician, researcher and humanitarian. This novel is his first. It won't be his last.
The book boxes
29 book boxes, from Switzerland to Brittany. Click to see on the map.
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