The godmother of the narrator – a young book lover – was close to Denise and Edouard Bourdet. The tale begins with the death of Denise – and with the certain knowledge that this loss tolls the loss of a world. Years later, upon his godmother’s death, the narrator, stricken with regret, falls into a remembrance of things past.
Who were the Bourdet ? What about Catherine Pozzi? Maurice Rémon? Why was Denise allowed to use the title Countess? And how come Edouard, one of the most brilliant administrators of the celebrated Comédie Française Theatre, wound up in a duel with Bernstein (his great rival, in the theatre as in life)?
At the heart of the social and literary highlife of Paris in the 30s, the Bourdet’s life is mesmerising. United by a love of books and Le Monde, they gather their World at the Villa Blanche.

Evocation of an epoch both nearby and long gone (Paris between the great wars) and of a couple united by literature and high society (the Bourdet), the narrative is presented like a veritable investigation, and it has all the bittersweet charm of a novel by Modiano.