West
François VALLEJO
This book was awarded the "prix du Livre Inter 2007", "prix du jury Jean Giono 2006" and the "Prix millepages 2006".
Halfway through a restless 19th century, a scorned heir takes possession of his father’s land. The old Baron de l’Aubépine is dead ; his twisted son replaces him. Enthusiastic about revolutionary ideas and haunted by unexpressible phantasms, the new lord finds an ideal nemesis in his land keeper, a humble man still attached to the idea of honor. While the Young Baron soils the name of his family, Lambert (the land keeper) tries to maintain his own dignity, to protect his wife and daughter, and the other workers.
A complex and violent story, born of the only tension between two forces, in an exceptional writing form, dry and without rest.