'Mona's Eyes': how an obscure French art historian swept the globe

Schlesser’s debut novel is at once a moving book about the fullness of life and a deeply touching story about the special relationship between a girl and her grandfather. Photo: AFP

French art historian Thomas Schlesser is still adapting to life as a best-selling global author having written one of the break-out hits of the last year in Mona's Eyes.

For a man more used to university lecture halls or the dry world of academic publishing, becoming a literary phenomenon, particularly in the United States, was unexpected.