A family comes together every summer, at the bidding of the matriarch – a despotic grandmother. Once they’re caught in her web, they all try to act as though everything were fine. Children, children-in-law and grandchildren look the other way and avoid each other. Some of them expect something to happen, without being able to put their finger on exactly what. Day by day, the meals – which no one dares to skip – turn into veritable trench warfare.
Claude, the youngest, watches, surprised. In his dreams, he frequently sees aeroplanes. And in those dreams, the planes fall from the sky the minute you look at them. All around him that summer, it’s the same thing: if you hold steady, appearances crumble, and home truths fall like bombs.

Sharp and cutting, Tombent les avions is a cleverly constructed first novel about family secrets.