Louis Descols

In a bizarre Breton library that collects rejected, never published manuscripts, a young editor discovers a novel that she considers a masterpiece. It was written by a certain Henri Pick, a cook who died two years earlier and who, according to his widow, had never read a book in his life or written anything but a shopping list... Did he have a secret life? When the book becomes a huge best-seller, Jean- Michel Rouche, a skeptical and stubborn literary critic, teams up with Joséphine, Pick’s daughter, to unravel the mystery.

Martinique, 1942. Rose, a young teacher, is fired from her job by the Vichy regime of Admiral Robert. Rose seeks to leave the island by boat with a group of fellow dissidents. Her plans are thwarted by the landing on the island of a German officer, and her meeting with Jacques Meyer, the captain of the local navy. A strange confrontation between the German officer, Captain Meyer and rebellious Rose then begins.

In 1960s France, 16-year-old Hannah Goldman is experiencing a painful adolescence. Her Jewish background and plain appearance make her an object of ridicule, but she has a talent for music and is determined to fulfil her ambition to play in the school jazz band.