Description :
François, the son of a farmhand working for the Vogelhof family, and Maria, the farmers' daughter, have known each other since childhood. Together, they have explored all the paths of the Hautes Fagnes plateau, a wild and isolated territory in Wallonia, east of Belgium and bordering Germany. Their friendship has grown freely between deserted moors and peat bogs, dense forests and rolling hills, rushing rivers and deep lakes. When sweet Lucie arrives at the farm to stay with her cousin Maria, dark clouds begin to creep over the friends' carefree understanding. However, far more serious threats are about to befall the young people. War was declared and Hitler annexed the territory. François fled to Liège to escape enlistment in the Wehrmacht and joined the Resistance, while Maria was drafted into the Reich Labor Service, which she had to perform in Germany with the ?Malgré-elles?. The two separated teenagers follow different paths to adulthood. Will they be able to find their love intact when peace returns, and what role will Lucie, who helped François in the fight against the German occupiers, play? A novel of passion, violence and implacable jealousy, set in a cruelly beautiful landscape at odds with history.