Michel Thomas Houellebecq (b. circa 1956) was born on the French island Réunion. When he was five months old, he was sent to live in Algeria with his maternal grandparents. At around age 6, he was then transferred to the care of his paternal grandmother whose maiden name he took for his own (she died in 1978).

According to Kathleen Kuiper (Britannica), Houellebecq’s “body of work gives evidence that the abandonment by and continued absence of his parents, who divorced when he was young, deeply scarred him.”

Michel Houellebecq is widely regarded as one of France’s best known 20th century novelists, and is sometimes thought of as that country’s most shocking one.