• Mallarmé, essay, Hatier, 1973 • La Mémoire brûlée, novel, Le Seuil, 1979 •
Lalibela ou la mort nomade, novel, Ramsay, 1981 • ''L'Heure des adieux'', novel, Le Seuil, 1985 •
Le Passage des princes, novel, Ramsay, 1988 • ''Les Quartiers d'hiver'', novel, Gallimard, 1990, prix Médicis •
Le Silence des passions, novel, Gallimard, 1994, prix Valery-Larbaud •
Madame Arnoul, narrative, Gallimard, 1995, prix Maurice-Genevoix, prix Albert-Camus, prix du Livre Inter •
Long séjour, narrative, Gallimard, 1998,
prix Jean-Freustié 1998 •
Corse (Le Seuil, 2000) in collaboration with the photographer Raymond Depardon : text on Corsica and his father (following Long séjour). •
Renée Camps, narrative, Gallimard, 2001 •
Tout est passé si vite, novel, Gallimard, 2003, grand prix du roman de l'Académie française •
Les Dollars des sables, novel, Gallimard, 2006,
adapted for cinema (2015) by Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas, with the American actress
Géraldine Chaplin •
Montecristi, novel, Gallimard, 2009 •
La Montagne, narrative, Gallimard, 2012, prix Marcel-Pagnol,
prix Méditerranée,
Prix François Mauriac •
Indétectable, novel, Gallimard, 2014 •
Je voulais leur dire mon amour, novel, Gallimard, 2017 •
Les années manquantes, novel, Gallimard, 2022 ==Awards==