And that like many others he closed the eyes

Finish with laughter. At the outset, the tone is given. And the first lines, dry, painful, evading nothing. April 20, 1942 to October 30, 1943, Jean Jardin, the grandfather of Alexander, was "the main collaborator of most paid French statesmen", Pierre Laval. On the morning of the RAID of the Vél' of Hiv, "it was his Chief of staff;" his double. His eyes, his flair, his mouth, his hand. If not: his conscience. "And Alexander surprising no one has ever made the link between his grandfather and the stalk.

Why such blindness, is surprised, almost thirty-five years after the death of his grandfather, Jean, said the "yellow dwarf" - so named "because of its small size and ability to unprecedented to make the chance," wrote Alexander in a previous novel, already shocking, devoted to his family, "The novel of garden", released in 2005 How is it, for example, that his long-time friend, Pierre Assouline, repeatedly cited in the book, no nothing found which can be confused with his grandfather Yet, Assouline known tenacity and independence of mind, has devoted a biography searched to the Director of Office of Laval ("an éminence grise", Gallimard, 1986) and consulted with a zeal of Benedictine all available archives, including those held by the uncle of Alexander, Gabriel Jardin, which he opened all its cartons.

For Alexander, it is clear: there was a conspiracy to suppress the responsibility of Jean Garden because many people that are found at high levels and IV e V e Republic had spawned Vichy; the "dircab" of Laval knew too much about all and therefore all evidence had been destroyed. Itself, Alexandre, requesting access to documents relating to his grandfather, recently at the National Archives is away: out reinforced his belief of conspiracy theory. For Assouline, on the other hand, if Alexander has found nothing, it is that there is nothing that historians have already exhumed. "Co Ow is, writes the ticket of the"world", since 60 years, Jean Jardin is virtually absent from the books the most respected experts have devoted to the history of Vichy."

If there is no evidence UI ' is patent on the face of the book-, Alexandre is convinced that his grandfather (who, as early as 1943, rid the floor to take a position of Ambassador in Bern and will never home fixed in France) knew. And that, like many others, he closed the eyes. The only certainty is a blight. Can understand. But this blight could give material ledger is watermark in "Very good people".

Because the central issue, it is the identity of Alexandre Jean and Pascal, these two monsters sacred, so attractive, if destructive, there few and poorly known. The father of Alexander, Pascal, died when he was just fifteen years. Don Juan eclectic and electric, he was never home, always between two films - he was the writer of "Angélique, marquise of the Angels", "The cat", "Le Tatoué", "The old rifle", two books and "mille e tre giving."

For Alexander, the furia had only one goal: stun to forget the original fault of Vichy. The high point was the publication by Pascal on the yellow "The dwarf" novel prize of the French Academy in 1978, two years after the death of Jean. This novel is now Alexander as great makeup and spoofing. "From a past appalling, Pascal Jardin tira a feast of words." Staggering literary maneuver that resulted in a triumph in the bookshops. The legend was a party. And the France goba.

And if he reacts today with such violence is that him, Alexandre, fell in the family Panel, stunning easy success, gathering the laurels of glory at the age of twenty with well calibrated Bestsellers: "Ball at the top", price of the first novel in 1986, and "The Zebra", prix Femina, two years later. In short, overlapping the same chimera as his father to not face the truth.

In "The novel of the garden", six years ago, Alexander asked the question: "How am I not gone insane". Book hilarious and terrible, sordid and minstrel, this "novel" Let imagine that the novelist of "fanfan" and other bluettes had been the end point in the saga of the garden. "Very good people" proves that this past, definitely does not pass. It is time yet to turn the page.