By A Slow River Philippe Claudel

Retired French gendarme, Dadais, is haunted by the events that took place in a
small unnamed village in th winter of 1917. Close to the Western Front battlefields of World War , a ten year old girl is found in an icy river "slow river", strangled. The town's residents, curiously unmoved by the victims of the war that pass through their community, are stunned by the death of the beautiful child. Many years later, Dadais spends his days going over three deaths that occured at the same time: the little girl, Dadais wife, who died in childbirth and the suicide of the enchanting school mistress from the north. Was the right person convicted in the death of the little girl? What was the motivation for the school mistress' death? As Dadais struggles to make senses of it all, the circle of sadness widens. This is a dark beautifully written novel that has at it's heart, man's humanity to other men.