Xavier Houssin, my father, this stranger

By: Catherine Fruchon-Toussaint

Writer and literary columnist, Xavier Houssin is the author of four novels and a story. Poetry collections too, the last of which, "The herbarium of the rays" (Characters), received the Paul-Verlaine prize from the French Academy in 2017. His new novel "The fortune officer" published by Grasset s' inscribed in the family memory which he recomposes through literature.

Publicity

Cover of Xavier Houssin's novel © Grasset

"He is a man whose life spans the century. Hired at 17 in the 1920s, he was sent to Germany, an officer at 25 in Morocco and Tonkin, battalion commander in Noumea in 1939. After the roll call from June 18, he was one of the first to reach free France, his career resumed at the head of regiments in Indochina and Algeria, until a modest crime of lese majesty which cost him dearly. 1970, he is only an old retired soldier, widower of a calamitous marriage, father of children who reject him. The world for which he fought does not exist any more, for him all is finished. except perhaps Jeanne. She was the great and secret love of her life. And together they had a son who today must be eighteen years old ... " (Presentation of Grasset editions)

Xavier Houssin is one of the guests of the Salon du Roman Historique in Levallois, Sunday March 1, 2020.

Newsletter With the Daily Newsletter, find the headlines directly in your mailbox

Download the app

• Literature
• France
• Second World War
• Culture