'Sensuously detailed . . . edgy . . . riveting' Financial TimesTwo strangers meet on a bus along a dusty road in rural France. Tati is a tough, work-worn widow, who runs the farm her late husband left behind, while trying to keep out of the way of her predatory in-laws. Jean is an odd, quiet man, recently out of prison, with nowhere to go. These lost souls recognize something in each other, and Jean becomes Tati's lodger and farm worker. In the still and heat of the summer, they labour together and, inevitably, begin to sleep together. Soon, however, their strange affair will become something altogether darker. First published in 1942 at the same time as Albert Camus' The Outsider, this is Simenon's existentialist masterpiece, exploring the dangerous mystery of who we are and what we desire. 'Published, like The Outsider, in 1942, and at least equal to Camus's work in portraying a doomed and alienated life' David Hare

Georges Simenon (Author)
Georges Simenon was born in Liège, Belgium, in 1903. He is best known in Britain as the author of the Maigret novels and his prolific output of over 400 novels and short stories have made him a household name in continental Europe. He died in 1989 in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he had lived for the latter part of his life.