The Great Swindle: Prize-winning historical fiction by a master of suspense

(Paperback)

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And so is set in motion a series of devastating events that will inextricably bind together the fates and fortunes of Pradelle and the two soldiers who witness his crime: Albert Maillard and Edouard Pericourt.

Back in civilian life, Albert and Edouard struggle to adjust to a society whose reverence for its dead cannot quite match its resentment for those who survived. But the two soldiers conspire to enact an audacious form of revenge against the country that abandoned them to penury and despair, with a scheme to swindle the whole of France on an epic scale.

Meanwhile, believing her brother killed in action, Edouard's sister Madeleine has married Pradelle, who is running a little scam of his own...

Reviews

The vast sweep of the novel and its array of extraordinary secondary characters have attracted comparisons with the works of Balzac. Moving, angry, intelligent - and compulsive - The Times

Exceptionally powerful examination of the aftermath of war and of the people whose lives were washed away in its wake - Sunday Times

This book is thick with detail, immersing the reader in its elaborately bleak world ... an irresistible story - New York Times

Lemaitre's novel is a rare synthesis of the tragic and the comic - a masterclass in nail-biting suspense ... Frank Wynne is a superb translator who captures the rude exuberance of the original French - Independent

Lemaitre's deadpan ironic tone is beautifully caught by his regular translator Frank Wynne. A kind of Ealing comedy with a bruised but still beating heart, this is the most purely enjoyable book I've read this year - Sunday Express

A fast-paced tale, filled with twists and turns, following a mischievous, disillusioned view of post-war France - Figaro

A masterly epic of post-war France, where impostures triumph and capitalists grow rich from the ruins - Le Monde

A dark, burning requiem delivered in glorious prose that is as tough and effective as a punch in the face ... Read this riotous novel: it will leave you stunned - Express

Author Bio

Pierre Lemaitre was born in Paris in 1951. He worked for many years as a teacher of literature before becoming a novelist. He was awarded the Crime Writers' Association International Dagger, alongside Fred Vargas, for Alex. In 2013 his novel Au revoir la-haut (The Great Swindle, in English translation) won the Prix Goncourt, France's leading literary award.