French novelist imagines a woman as secret author of the Beatles' songs

A newly released French novel is imagining an alternate history of one of pop music's most celebrated songwriting partnerships, proposing that every song credited to the Beatles was in fact written by a woman of French descent, according to a report in The Guardian.

The book, Code Yesterday, is the work of Michel Bussi, described by the Guardian as a celebrated thriller writer, and was released in France earlier this month. In the novel, Bussi imagines that the songs long attributed to John Lennon and Paul McCartney were actually authored by a woman, whom he names Yvonne, according to the report.

Bussi told the Guardian that the premise of the book was not as far-fetched as it might first appear, and that his motivation was explicitly to challenge the gendered history of popular music. "I wanted to give women revenge," he said, according to the report.

The Guardian frames the publication against a backdrop of what it describes as warm relations between France and Britain, noting the loan of the Bayeux tapestry as a symbol of renewed friendship between the two countries, and citing exchanges between prime minister Andy Burnham and French president Emmanuel Macron. The report suggests that Bussi's novel, with its provocative reimagining of one of Britain's most cherished cultural exports, could complicate that goodwill.

Further details of the novel's plot, its critical reception in France, and any response from representatives of the Beatles or their estates were not included in the available report.