We’re all like those trees along the coast that grow at an angle, their youth mauled by strong winds. Like them, we have been marked. And just to make things really perilous, the great upheaval in our lives, sexuality, takes place during our most vulnerable years... In this forbidden and intimate domain, Victor, the young hero of this novel, goes underground. Running away, surely; finding refuge in fantasizing, but also resisting a coalition of oppressors.

Looking back years later with emotion, Victor conjures up his teenaged years. All around him, women. His mother – unpredictable, tyrannical, unhappy and loving – both terrorizes and fascinates him. Above all, she wants to protect him from, i.e. keep him away from, the fair sex. But he has a one-track mind and do anything to achieve his ends.

The woman on the fifth floor –the untouchable Princess —; his sister’s best friend; Mireille, the maid – the First Woman –; Madame Laquaire; Nora; Nicole – the First Love... They all invade his dreams and haunt his nights. Like benevolent goddesses, they help Victor stand up to his mother and distance him from the upheavals of childhood. The young man’s apprenticeship is dotted with memorable scenes, dramatic or droll. Victor and the Women is the nostalgic narrative of a sentimental education.