Résumé
The Perigord. A beautiful August day. Kind, well respected young nobleman, Alain de Moneys, sets off happily for the local fair at nearby Hautefaye. But this is the summer of 1870, a time of terrible drought and even worse defeats for France in the Franco-Prussian war. One misheard comment at the fair sets in motion a horrific chain of events that Alain, for all his popularity, is powerless to stop ... Based on a shamefully brutal incident from French history, Jean Teule's riveting story shows how easily a group of individuals can turn into an irrational, bloodthirsty mob.