Publisher's Synopsis
In the theatre, the flouted husband is a comic character. In reality, he often has the pathetic quality of Mr. Parent whose life is a hell suffered with patience for the love of a child that the betrayed wife finally unmasked takes away claiming that it is not his. Twenty years and a coincidence will be necessary for this sweet man to discover how to get revenge.Placed in an identical situation, the hero of the Field of Olives has been able to rebuild his existence, just as he will be able to escape the demon that emerged from his past, the pale "maoufatan" who is his son, by an astonishing gesture in a priest.Father Vilbois has what Henri Parent lacks, that courage that we sometimes think we have and that suddenly fails when it comes to the test, but then how many would dare to imitate a coward like the beautiful Signoles?It is still from courage, and obstinacy, that the adventure of the Wolf Hunters was born. Not all spirits have as much strength, as the episode of Mademoiselle Cocotte proves. It only takes a little to upset the human brain (The Hair) or at least to worry it and bring it to the funny ends of Sick People and Doctors.And so vast is the range of human feelings that it ranges from the nostalgia of Par un soir de printemps to the jovial irony of the lesson of things learned in a wagon, the last of the nine short stories in this volume.
