The son of a villain. Shalandon S.

The misadventures of the 18-year-old guy without education and beliefs, a liar, falsifier and manipulator who went through the war, playing. In four years, he put on five uniforms. Four times deserted from four different armies. Today he wore a bandage with a swastika, and tomorrow he was a patriot.

In December 1944, looking for both sides, he continued to deceive. Not only former enemies, but also his own son, who became a journalist.

For a long time, the father lulled his son with stories about the exploits in the resistance, until once his grandfather dropped his grandson: “Your father wore a German uniform. You are the son of a villain! ”

In May 1987, when a trial began in Lyon on the Nazi criminal Klaus Barbie, his son found out that his father’s court case was stored in the archive in the north of France, and gained access to police protocols and court documents.

begins not one, but at once two trials. Barbie will have to answer for his crimes, his father - for his lies.

The writer questions the history of the Vishi regime, as well as the nature of that incomprehensible evil, which during the war made people dispassionately send people to the death camp. Of particular sharpness the narrative is given to the fact that this is an autobiographical novel affecting the collective memory.

Sorzha Shalandon (b. 1952) - a modern French writer and journalist, author of 10 novels. The "son of the villain" entered the short list of the 2021 Goncurov Prize.