Description :
A teacher harassed by his pupils, Barthélémy sinks into an insomniac depression inspiring him to write a book about his nocturnal wanderings through a marginal Brussels. The dazzling success of the book and its adaptation as a reality TV show enable Barthélémy to retire and take refuge in Saint-Idesbald, on the Belgian coast, a stone?s throw from the French border. / While out walking, he comes across a group of refugees fleeing the Calais Jungle. Led by Aslan who was a teacher in his destroyed village, a woman, two twin boys and a Russian deserter, who had fled the first Chechen war, the group was hoping, like so many others, to cross the Channel. For Barthélémy, this meeting is a redemption. He is going to help them and rediscover his vocation as a teacher. With his friends Van Drogenbos, an uncompromising town-planning official, Charon, an ex-fisherman and customs officer, and Zanzibar, who is restoring an old Grandbanks, he will organize the crossing of the group to Scotland. / In this novel of redemption and adventure, we rediscover Jean Jauniaux?s world of fiction and the highly visual style that led to the film adaptation of one of his short stories. / I liked the mix of the personal and the imaginary, the multiplicity of languages, the humor, the sarcasm, the tenderness. All of this is deep, sincere and beautifully done. » (J-M. G. Le Clézio)