Marta’s Great Escape

Marta is really tired… but she knows an ideal island refuge where she can recharge her batteries.
The cakes baked by Marta delight the whole town. But they’re burning more and more often. Marta feels tired, very tired, too tired… So one night, Marta escapes… to the island of her childhood. There, the days pass alone at first; time to rest, to find herself, to fortify herself. Then, in the conviviality of the island, the desire to bake and share returns. What’s more, Marta has found a new friend… for life?
A touching story of self-esteem and caring for others, in which young readers follow a character who succeeds, on her own but not without the help of others, in understanding what is happening to her, and in overcoming her isolation, that contemporary curse.

Délphine Roux (author)
Delphine Roux grew up surrounded by pastures dotted with apple trees. She graduated in literature and semiology from the University of Paris-V. Sensitive to Asian cultures and life stories, and nourished by her work as a volunteer reader for children, she writes novels, poetry and texts for picture books. Delphine Roux has been published by HongFei since 2020: L’Amie en bois d’érable (The Maple Wood Friend), selected for the Prix des Incos 2022 and Le Tablier de Tomio (Tomio’s Apron) in 2024.

Gaëlle Duhazé (illustrator)
Gaëlle Duhazé holds a degree in Art History and has been working as an illustrator in publishing and children’s magazines since 2007 (Prix Sorcières Documentaire 2016 for Cité Babel, ed. des Éléphants). In 2008, she began collaborating with HongFei Editions, which published her first book, Chaton pâle et les insupportables petits messieurs (The pale kitten and the unbearable little imps) in 2016, followed by Le Grand voyage de Rickie Racoon (Rickie Raccoon’s Big Trip) in 2019 and Archibald et ses chatons (Archibald and his kittens) in 2023. Gaëlle populatesher images with a thousand characters who resonate with sensitivity, while her texts often tackle the question of self-esteem, all with a great deal of humor.