In Hong Kong, Madeleine Progin Keeps the Flame of French Literature Alive

Le Figaro

24-07-2025

Some 12,000 kilometers from Paris, the founder of the independent bookshop Parenthèses remains steadfast in her mission: keeping French literature alive in Hong Kong.
One walks into the Parenthèses bookshop in the heart of Hong Kong as as one might enter a church — quietly. On the second floor of the Duke of Wellington House building, which is aristocratic in name only, this shrine to French-language literature stands in defiance of a world in constant acceleration. No stress, no pressure. Time can be savored like a priest reading his prayer book, far from the hustle and bustle of an overheated city where luxury and finance reign supreme.
Madeline Progin, the high priestess of Parenthèses, settled in Hong Kong over forty years ago. Originally from a small village near Neuchâtel, Switzerland, the self-described 'country girl' followed her city-dwelling husband, Marc, to the ends of the earth, convinced that the whole adventure would only last a short time. Enchanted by this 'city where anything is possible,' the young woman decided to make a childhood dream come true there: to open her own bookshop.
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"There were no books at home, but I knew how to read before I went to school. My father was a farmer, and my mother worked a variety of odd jobs. I'd scour the village library, stealing books from girlfriends. Every Christmas, every birthday, I'd order books. They were my greatest gift," she recalls. When she arrived in Hong Kong, there was only a very modest French-speaking outlet on the fourth floor of the same building. It sold books, but also chocolate, champagne…
Books that travel halfway around the world
"Hong Kong was a city of entrepreneurs with incredible energy. People worked night and day, it was all very exciting," recalls this emblematic figure of the French-speaking community. At the age of 26, the young woman obtained assistance from the French Consulate and bought the business with her husband. A few years later, the Parenthèses bookshop was approved by the Centre national du livre (CNL) and became a 'benchmark French-language bookshop.'
"We receive around 150 to 250 kg of books a week. Novels, biographies, fiction, poetry, but also comics, history, mathematics, cookery, language learning — 95% of our books come from France," confides the bookseller, as she sweeps a half-amused, half-despairing gaze over the walls of this discrete sanctuary where literature stacks up like a bastion against oblivion.
'Our mission is to remain eclectic, curious and inclusive of all genres' —Madeline Progin, founder of Parenthèses bookshop
"Our customers are demanding — they want the latest releases, whether from Gallimard, Grasset, Le Seuil, or Picquier for Chinese translations. Our mission is to remain eclectic, curious and open to all genres. Books take about two weeks to reach us. Inevitably they're a little more expensive, but that's the price of passion, independence and a book chain that crosses half the globe," explains Progin with the energy of a fanatic.
A large, brown leather club chair, studded, worn and crackled, sits at the entrance of the bookshop. It's here, for the past 30 years, that some of France's greatest writers have come to sit down for a signature, a meeting, a photo. Like Michel Houellebecq, over 10 years ago: 'It was quite something,' says Progin with a smile. "The day before, he had given a reading of his poems at Macumba, Hong Kong's only African bar. It was a bilingual reading, together with translator Sonia Au. He read in French, Au in Cantonese. In the room were expats, curious passersby, poetry lovers and, of course, Houellebecq fans. All hanging onto the writer's every word.
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Changing reading habits
On the walls of the bookshop, customers can see the faces of Pierre Assouline, Philippe Claudel, Susie Morgenstern, Camille Laurens, Jean-Philippe Toussaint, Dany Laferrière, David Foenkinos, Andreï Kourkov, Chantal Thomas, Marie Darrieussecq, or that of Boualem Sansal, with his eternal adolescent look. Kamel Daoud was due to come in June, but declined the invitation following an international arrest warrant issued against him by Algeria.
Today, those blessed days when authors paraded around to meet their public seem to be over, and the future of Parenthèses may be in jeopardy. "Since COVID, habits have changed. People no longer want to leave their homes, which explains the drop in attendance. Add to that the declining number of interested expats, competition from online platforms and the rise in operating costs — rent, salaries, transport, everything has gone up. We can no longer cover our costs," laments the bookseller, who has given herself until the end of the year to make a final decision.
In a swansong-like sentiment addressed to the French-speaking community, Madeline Progin urges literature lovers to get out and buy their books from Parenthèses. 'Reading habits have also changed,' concludes Madeline Progin. "These days, we're afraid to venture into literature. We open a book. We leaf through it, skim it, no longer pay attention to the style, the characters, the twists and turns. People don't have the energy to get involved anymore, and that's a shame.' It's hard to say whether Parenthèses will make it through the winter. 'Reading is a friendship,' wrote Marcel Proust. In Hong Kong, this friendship still exists in French — but for how long?