Three apricot kernels (Au vent des îles)
Sauveur Solin is eight years old and has suffered a terrible tragedy. The headmistress of his school near Paris has fallen and is lying at the foot of the stairs. Did she slip? Did he push her? In his head, the boy remembers. Three years ago, his life was sweet in his Algerian village... until the shadow of war loomed in the background, bringing with it its procession of horrors and absurdities. Then, like a bulwark against it, memories rise up. Memories of friends, of grandpa's natural death, of a Garcia Lorca poem, of heroic tontons, of apricot kernels, of a warm cap. Sauveur clings to his innocence, gleaning all the happiness he can from these flashbacks. But was it happiness? Is he the witness or the actor in this tragedy? .....
Sauveur Solin is eight years old and has suffered a terrible tragedy. The headmistress of his school near Paris has fallen and is lying at the foot of the stairs. Did she slip? Did he push her? In his head, the boy remembers. Three years ago, his life was sweet in his Algerian village... until the shadow of war loomed in the background, bringing with it its procession of horrors and absurdities. Then, like a bulwark against it, memories rise up. Memories of friends, of grandpa's natural death, of a Garcia Lorca poem, of heroic tontons, of apricot kernels, of a warm cap. Sauveur clings to his innocence, gleaning all the happiness he can from these flashbacks. But was it happiness? Is he the witness or the actor in this tragedy? .....
