Once limited to a small corner reserved for English-speaking tourists in need of a holiday read, shelves devoted to literature in its original language are taking on an increasingly important role in French bookshops. Groups of teenagers flock to them in search of specific titles, discovered via hashtags on social media devoted to literature, such as #booktok, #bookstagram and #booktube.

Teens who read? And in a foreign language, no less? The phenomenon was first noted by booksellers. "Two departments are particularly popular with young people in our store," explained Delphine Ripoche, assistant manager of the Durance bookshop in Nantes, "dark romance and books in their original language." Dark romance is the literary genre popularized by Fifty Shades of Grey, featuring love stories tinged with gently sado-masochistic sex scenes and erotic power play between lovers. Most of the popular VO (original version, in this case English) books come from this genre.

"The English-language market has been growing steadily for several years now," confirmed Stéphanie Laurent, French bookseller Fnac-Darty's director of publications, France's leading retail chain stores for cultural and electronic products. "At the end of August, the top trend in our stores was up 20% compared to 2022."

Back in the 1990s and 2000s, observers were astonished to see young people flocking to English-language bookstores to read the Harry Potter saga without waiting for French translations. Today, aided by the Pass Culture scheme – which, since February 2021, allocates every young person between 15 and 18 an annual credit of €20 to €300 to spend on cultural goods – this new boom in imported literature is nonetheless difficult to quantify. Contacted by Le Monde, neither the Centre National du Livre (National Book Center) nor the Syndicat de la Librairie Française (French Bookstore Union) were able to provide nationwide figures on these sales.

But at the Durance bookshop, sales of books from the foreign language section, which features almost 3,000 titles in English, almost doubled between 2019 and 2022, reaching €300,000 last year, or 7.5 % of total sales. "It's a small space, which we actually enlarged before the summer, but it's constantly full. Young people, especially girls, come in groups, often with specific requests," explained Delphine Gentils, Durance's department manager.

Understanding the surprising enthusiasm of this clientele – who don't consult traditional channels for suggestions such as the literary press, and who booksellers have long feared would desert them in favor of Amazon – requires a visit to TikTok and Instagram.

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