Through the lives of two friends, Gaspard Koenig depicts today's France and its open wounds: class struggle, environmental fears, drought blighting the land and human relationships, the dictatorship of productivity and appearances, the schism between urban and rural areas, the love and despair that drive people to all sorts of acts. A social, political, revolutionary, and above all, profoundly literary novel. In a few words, Gaspard Koenig delivers a searing fable and an unforgiving portrait of society, a masterpiece of controlled tone and incredible prescience."