The Great Swindle

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What to expect

October 1918: the war on the Western Front is all but over. Desperate for one last chance of promotion, the ambitious Lieutenant Henri d'Aulnay Pradelle sends two scouts over the top, and secretly shoots them in the back to incite his men to heroic action once more.

And so is set in motion a series of devastating events that will inextricably bind together the fates and fortunes of Pradelle and the two soldiers who witness his crime: Albert Maillard and Édouard Péricourt.

Back in civilian life, Albert and Édouard struggle to adjust to a society whose reverence for its dead cannot quite match its resentment for those who survived. But the two soldiers conspire to enact an audacious form of revenge against the country that abandoned them to penury and despair, with a scheme to swindle the whole of France on an epic scale.

Meanwhile, believing her brother killed in action, Édouard's sister Madeleine has married Pradelle, who is running a little scam of his own...
(P)2015 MacLehose Press

Critics Review

The vast sweep of the novel and its array of extraordinary secondary characters have attracted comparisons with the works of Balzac. Moving, angry, intelligent - and compulsive
The Times
A big, swirling tale that itself reads like a 19th-century novel ... thick with detail, immersing the reader in its elaborately bleak world
New York Times
This book is thick with detail, immersing the reader in its elaborately bleak world ... an irresistible story
New York Times
Exceptionally powerful examination of the aftermath of war and of the people whose lives were washed away in its wake
Sunday Times
Lemaitre's novel is a rare synthesis of the tragic and the comic - a masterclass in nail-biting suspense ... Frank Wynne is a superb translator who captures the rude exuberance of the original French
Independent
Engrossing . . . one of the most pleasurable reading experiences of recent years
The Sunday Times
Lemaitre's deadpan ironic tone is beautifully caught by his regular translator Frank Wynne. A kind of Ealing comedy with a bruised but still beating heart, this is the most purely enjoyable book I've read this year
Sunday Express
A fast-paced tale, filled with twists and turns, following a mischievous, disillusioned view of post-war France
Figaro
A masterly epic of post-war France, where impostures triumph and capitalists grow rich from the ruins
Le Monde
You feel the author's indignation ... Who really profits from war? Crooks, the vengeful and frauds: The Great Swindle is political as much as it is picaresque
Télérama
A dark, burning requiem delivered in glorious prose that is as tough and effective as a punch in the face ... Read this riotous novel: it will leave you stunned
Express
Excellent ... savage satirical intent
The Times

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