Thélyson Orélien’s novel C’était ça ou mourir has reached No. 1 on the French fiction sales chart, with the Québec author’s controversial debut selling more than 18,000 copies in a single week.
According to GfK data reported by French media, the novel sold 18,256 copies between September 21 and 27, a nearly 46% increase from the previous week. The book has now sold nearly 65,000 copies in France since its August 19 release.
The surge in sales comes as Orélien faces allegations that artificial intelligence was used extensively in the writing of the novel, claims he has denied. The controversy escalated further when allegations of plagiarism involving some of his earlier writing emerged. The Académie Goncourt subsequently removed C’était ça ou mourir from consideration for its 2026 prize.
Orélien had already established himself as one of the season’s major literary discoveries before the controversy, winning the 2026 Prix du Roman Fnac for the novel, which follows a Haitian teacher’s journey through exile and migration.
Orélien has maintained that he did not use AI to write the novel. Meanwhile, questions remain about the reliability of AI-detection tools, with experts and writers divided over what such software can establish.
Evidently, this jump cannot be attributed directly to the controversy, as the novel was already selling strongly before the allegations became public, and the sales figures cover a period that also included its Fnac prize win.
The Montréal-based Haitian author’s press tour in France was abruptly cancelled last week in the midst of the frenzy, and he is now back in Canada.
