In the Absence of Men

Vincent comes of age in Paris in the summer of 1916. With German Zeppelins on the skyline, the men of Paris are off at war. For Vincent, the sixteen-year-old son of a prestigious family, the stillness of the city sits at odds with the candlelit salons he attends at night. Then an electrifying encounter with the enigmatic writer, Marcel P, draws Vincent's desires out into the light, while his ever-riskier liaisons with a young solider begin to shape his future. As the First World War tightens its grip, In the Absence of Men captures the urgency of youth and the fragility of love in a world on the brink of catastrophe. 'A short, bold and original novel which beautifully captures the romance and amorality of gilded youth' Independent Elegant novellas-in-translation, VINTAGE EDITIONS celebrate the audacity and ambition of the written word, transporting readers to wherever in the world literary innovation may be found.

Phillipe Besson