Starting from a chance discovery—the name of André Chaix on a wall of a house being renovated in the French region of Drôme—the author, who won the Goncourt Prize in 2020 for his novel The Anomaly, decides to investigate and write about this young man, who was born in 1924 and died on August 22, 1944, in a confrontation with the Nazis while serving in the Maquis group “Morvan”.
Alongside the biographical information (family, work, etc.), the book offers reflections on Nazism, the Resistance, and the collaborators. It also includes several photographs and reproductions of documents. Although it is not a work of historical research, the author has clearly documented himself thoroughly in order to write the book.
An interesting and well-written work, it pays tribute to those who fought for freedom and invites readers to reflect on the role each person plays in history.