First published 1986
Lamprias de Bergerac has fled to the Amazon jungle, where he studies rare orchids and builds an erotic paradise far from civilization. He finds love with Cucla, a spirited native woman who transforms his botanical exile into something deeper. Back in Europe, his abandoned son Septimus grows up consumed by rage toward his absent father. Raised by his mother in the years before the war, Septimus channels his hatred into a twisted pursuit of power. When Nazi forces occupy France, he rises through their ranks, driven by an obsessive quest for racial purity that pushes him toward madness. The gentle mystic collecting specimens in tropical abundance stands in stark contrast to his son orchestrating horrors in occupied territory. Ducornet weaves their parallel stories into a narrative that moves between comedy and nightmare, revealing how personal abandonment can metastasize into political evil.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, adventure, 21st-century
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Amazon, Europe, France
Period: World War II
160 pages · Hardcover · Chatto & Windus
Content warnings: racism, violence