The Foundling Boy - Michel Deon

A story of parentage and provincial life, The Foundling Boy is a coming of age tale set in France at a time where Europe teeters on the precipice of war. ‘Quiet, wryly funny prose … a delight’ Independent on Sunday  It is 1919. On a summer''s night in Normandy, a new-born baby is left in a basket outside the home of Albert and Jeanne Arnaud. The childless couple take the foundling in, name him Jean, and decide to raise him as their own, though his parentage remains a mystery. Though Jean''s life is never dull, he grows up knowing little of what lies beyond his local area. Until the day he sets off on his bicycle to discover the world, and encounters a Europe on the threshold of interesting times...