Description
Book SynopsisThe sequel to The Foundling Boy sees Jean learning to make his way in a world of murky allegiances after the French defeat of 1940. 'A delight' Independent on Sunday In the aftermath of French defeat in July 1940, twenty-year-old Jean Arnaud and his ally, the charming conman Palfy, are hiding out at a brothel in Clermont-Ferrand, having narrowly escaped a firing squad. At a military parade, Jean falls for a beautiful stranger, Claude, who will help him forget his adolescent heartbreak but bring far more serious troubles of her own. Having safely reached occupied Paris, the friends mingle with art smugglers and forgers, social climbers, showbiz starlets, bluffers, swindlers and profiteers, French and German, as Jean learns to make his way in a world of murky allegiances. But beyond the social whirl, the war cannot stay away forever... In this sequel to the acclaimed novel The Foundling Boy, Michel Deon's hero comes to manhood not through combat but by discovering truths about desire and possession, sex and love, and the nuances that lie between crudely drawn battle lines.
Trade ReviewPraise for Michel Deon 'Our lives would be all the richer if we read a Michel Deon novel - a modern classic' William Boyd 'A splendid mixture of acerbic asides and bright invention, [The Foundling's War] reads admirably in Julian Evans's excellent translation' Times Literary Supplement 'I loved this book for the way, in its particularities and its casual narration, it admitted me to a world I knew nothing about... It is not just a glimpse into the past, but the study of the heart of a man and his times' Paul Theroux 'Inspired by Henry Fielding's 18th-century novel Tom Jones... As witty as its English forebear but with French savoir-faire, The Foundling Boy may win new readers for books translated from French' New York Times 'Mature, relaxed storytelling, balancing human nature with historical inevitability; a pleasure for traditionalists generally and Francophiles in particular' Kirkus reviews 'An underreported entrance into the forum of American letters' Andrew Mitchell Davenport, Full Stop 'An enjoyable read that doesn't try too hard to be anything more than a very entertaining story and yet still hits home sufficiently hard as to the state of the nation and society in those strange decades' The Complete Review 'Quiet, wryly funny prose ... a delight' Independent on Sunday 'It is shamefully parochial of us that this eminent writer has been so ignored by the anglophone world' Sunday Times 'A big-hearted coming-of-age shaggy-dog story ... [Deon's] novel leaves you feeling better about life' The Spectator 'Remarkable ... Rooted in 19th-century realism but profoundly subversive of its conventions ... Deserves a place alongside Flaubert's Sentimental Education and Le Grand Meaulnes' New Statesman
