Le Dernier Nuage is a French novel by Frédéric Chignac, and published by HC Editions. It’s main character is Luke Howard, the namer of clouds. Frédéric usually tells stories with images as he’s a filmmaker but he told us “I’d long entertained the idea of making a documentary about clouds, but without really knowing how. Then, of course, I came across Luke Howard, and from there, I abandoned the documentary idea to embark on writing a historical novel inspired by the research and life of the inventor of clouds”.
Frédéric is not a scientist, but, like many people, has been looking up at the clouds since he was a child growing up in the small town of Tulle. In winter he would watch out for clouds that might bring snow. And, when they did, he would climb one of the town’s hills to go sledding.
The publisher description of Le Dernier Nuage reads: This first novel, with its lively and delicate writing, is a plunge into early 19th-century London and its scientific effervescence, the discovery of the unique Quaker community and a love story between two brilliant individuals, torn between faith and science.
