The Kites
Author(s): Romain Gary
Fiction | Summer Reading Guide 2017/18
Published in France in 1980, The Kites is a beautifully written novel about the triumph of joy over darkness. Set in Normandy before and during WW II, The Kites is narrated by a young orphan Ludo Fleury, who is madly in love with Lila de Bronicki, a charming and self-absorbed Polish aristocrat. Despite the looming war, Ludo remains obstinately in love with Lila, and becomes involved in the Resistance. Ludo's uncle and guardian, the colourful Ambroise Fleury, a passionate amateur kite-maker, is deported to Auschwitz, while Ambroise's best friend, Marcellin Duprat, one of France's greatest chefs, battles the Occupation with an unrelenting love of haute cuisine, and Julie Espinoza, a Parisian madame refashions herself as a collaborationist countess, running a Resistance network under the noses of the Nazis. Written by one of the greatest and best-loved French authors, The Kites is both a ripping good story and a sobering reflection on the tragic human tendency to search for an enemy. It's funny and heartbreaking, dark and optimistic, tender and unsparing.
Product Information
General Fields
- :
- : Text Publishing Company
- : The Text Publishing Company
- : 0.435
- : September 2017
- : 234mm X 153mm
- : Australia
- : November 2017
- : books
Special Fields
- : 384
- : 1117
- : Paperback
- : Romain Gary