Bonjour jeunesse: new French literary star is 15

'Over the next few weeks, as more than 700 novels are released in time for the annual "rentrée littéraire" Carmen Bramly will stand out from the crowd. At 15, she is this year's youngest contributor.

Her first novel, Pastel Fauve, due out next week, is about a 14-year-old girl losing her virginity and the precocious young author began working on it at the same age. It is dedicated to Pete Doherty, the musician. Mr Doherty will perhaps be gratified to learn that as well as in the dedication, he figures as a formative sexual fantasy for the protagonist of the book, although Ms Bramly says she did not base anything in the book on her own life. "I listen to his music when I write and I wanted to put him in the book," she says.

Ms Bramly is the latest in a series of strikingly young French novelists. Last year's star was Sacha Sperling, who was 18, and in 2004 Dieu est une femme hit the bookstores, the work of the 14-year-old Ariane Fornia.

As there are no literary agents in France, publishers tend to print a large selection of books very cheaply, a system which means young writers are more likely to be published.

Read more at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/bonjour-jeunesse-new-french-literary-star-is-15-2054453.html