Thomas Schlesser’s professional activities could be better described as dry academic publishing and lecturing at the university, but things have recently changed for him. An author of Mona’s Eyes, a French-language book offering a new perspective on the appreciation and study of popular artwork, Schlesser has quickly become a global literary phenomenon. His book in English translation garnered lots of interest among American readers as well, making the university professor famous overnight. Let’s see what Mona’s Eyes is so famous for.

Mona’s Eyes: A New Approach to Studying Popular Artwork

Some might connect the book’s title, Mona’s Eyes, with da Vinci’s The Mona Lisa – the world’s best-known masterpiece – and lots of mystery and legends surrounding its creation and journey through the centuries. However, this story is a broader tribute to the unique value and legacy of the world’s art, viewed through a sentimental prism.

Mona is the book’s protagonist, a young girl who receives a dreadful diagnosis and discovers that she may soon go blind. Her grandfather decides not to waste any other minute and walks Mona through museums with vast collections of art – the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, and the Pompidou Center. He shares his passion for art with his granddaughter and educates her on all the nuances of art chronology, from Renaissance art to modern abstractionism to popular artwork.

The story blends a deeply emotional element of the girl’s risk to become blind and a passion for art, shared by Schlesser through the words of Mona’s grandfather on each page of the book. That’s why this story offers a unique tour of the global art heritage, told in a personally engaging and touching format. What’s more, it dwells on the subject of disability in a sincere and open way without over-dramatizing it.

Success of Mona’s Eyes in the American Market

A subject of the greatest surprise for Thomas Schlesser was the success of Mona’s Eyes in the USA. Schlesser has always believed that the American literary market is very tough and competitive, with American audiences preferring English-language authors. Yet, the book won the #4 spot in the list of The New York Times’ best-selling hardcover fiction before Christmas, with over 250,000 copies sold nationwide. The book also got the ‘book of the year’ title from Barnes & Noble.

The glorious pace of Mona’s Eyes continues worldwide. It has already been translated into 37 languages, with more than one million copies sold. Interestingly, half of these tremendous sales have occurred in the author’s homeland, France, signaling the public’s huge interest.