Sad children

FIRST EDITION. One of 15 deluxe copies numbered on Holland paper.

Ten years before Roger Nimier crashed his Aston Martin DB4 into a bridge in La Celle-Saint-Cloud, Olivier Malentraide - the main character in Enfants Tristes - already met his end in a strangely similar way:

"The ending of Enfants tristes has often been seen as a form of message, a sign, behind the humor and the dandyism. Olivier drove the car at one hundred thirty, running red lights, narrowly avoiding trucks and cyclists. After driving at that speed for some time on the outer boulevards, he found what he had come for in a large construction site where deep pits had been dug. Catherine is the most charming widow in Paris."

"A book in his image, filled with talent, sadness, and boredom," wrote Pierre de Boisdeffre in the Revue des Deux Mondes.