Paul is 46 years old. A farmer in Fridières, in the Cantal, a mountainous region known for its cheese.130 acres in the middle of nowhere. He didn’t exactly choose this spot; but that’s how his life has turned out. Paul has just one obsession: he doesn’t want to wind up alone, without a wife. Annette is 37. Her son, Eric, is almost 11. She’s never held a real job. She’s from the poor, economically devastated north of France, from a town called Bailleul. Annette was in love with Eric’s father, but it didn’t do him any good – didn’t save him from the whirlpool of alcohol, nor make his life better. So she decided to get away, to start over, somewhere else, somewhere far away. Hence, the ad. Paul ran it. Annette answered it. But then there are the others. The quiet son, and Annette’s mother. And Paul’s relatives, the ones who live with him in Fridières. His uncles, who own the land. And his sister, Nicole, 18 months younger than him, who has neither husband nor child. The Ad, Marie-Hélène Lafon’s latest novel, tells this love story