Literary and political, best-selling author Paul Kawczak turns a gripping adventure into a rich meditation on solidarity, art, and democracy. Le Bonheur is a tribute to the children sacrificed on the altar of fascism—and to the women who risked everything to protect them.

Autumn 1942, near Besançon. Jacquot, Pinou, and Suzanne are hiding beneath the ruins of Montfaucon Castle, in a cave said to be haunted by the Devil himself. Above ground, a faceless Nazi officer—SS-Sturmbannführer Peter Pannus—hunts them like prey, circling the castle and the nearby grocery run by Madame Beugnot.

Later, it would be said that this terrifying man, whose past was cloaked in mystery, believed the children possessed immense powers. Powers that could have changed the course of the war.

No evidence ever confirmed the rumors. But then—how to explain the strange green light, seen by several witnesses, rising from the monster and his victims?

With the lush storytelling and evocative power of magical realism, Paul Kawczak revisits the French Nazi Occupation in a novel that is as generous as it is dazzling.