Winner of the Prix Goncourt 2011 The story begins during the first Gulf War: the narrator, in the middle of a personal crisis, makes the acquaintance of an old serviceman turned painter, Victor Salagnon. Across the memories of Salagnon march fifty years of French history seen again across military fact: World War II, Indochina, Algeria, and more. Beyond The story of a friendship between two men is a questioning of contemporary France and ideology.