Spring 1942
Ludovic’s story. Not only is he illegitimate, but he also has a terrible secret: his best friend, Gaetan, has thrown himself off a cliff. Well, Ludovic’s pretty sure he did, anyway, even if he didn’t seem him do it and didn’t hear a shout.
To cope with his doubts, he decides not to say anything to anyone, not even to the villagers who’ve sent a search party out after Gaetan, not even to his friend’s mother or sister…

Ludovic’s mother, who works as a cleaning woman at the police station, and whose ambition is to do it for the German gentlemen, too, blames her son for his illegitimacy and his bad manners. He couldn’t care less, and has always cherished the dream of being adopted by Gaetan’s family.

A friendship between two teenagers during the Occupation, painted over the background of the story of their fathers, whose absence leaves a mark that time can’t erase.

Ludovic’s life will never be the same: Gaetan’s death will transform it radically, bringing memories and nightmares to the surface, plunging Ludovic into an unsuspected past, and suffusing him with infinite pain. Neither Eugène, the 13-year-old king of the steering wheel and drinker of pear brandy, nor Doctor Lavergne, who takes him on as an apprentice – not even Marie, especially not Marie, who makes love to him and touches his soul – can comfort him…