Skip to product information
1 of 1

Romain Gary

The Kites

The Kites

Regular price $28.04 AUD
Regular price $32.99 AUD Sale price $28.04 AUD
Sale Sold out
Available for the first time to an English audience, The Kites is Romain Gary's haunting last novel - a love story and his most lyrical and articulate argument for the triumph of joy over darkness.

Set in Normandy before and during WW II, The Kites is narrated by a young orphan Ludo Fleury, who is madly in love with Lila de Bronicki, a charming and self-absorbed Polish aristocrat. Despite the looming war, Ludo remains obstinately in love with Lila, and becomes involved in the Resistance.

Ludo's uncle and guardian, the colourful Ambroise Fleury, a passionate amateur kite-maker, is deported to Auschwitz, while Ambroise's best friend, Marcellin Duprat, one of France's greatest chefs, battles the Occupation with an unrelenting love of haute cuisine, and Julie Espinoza, a Parisian madame refashions herself as a collaborationist countess, running a Resistance network under the noses of the Nazis.

Written by one of the greatest and best-loved French authors, The Kites is both a ripping good story and a sobering reflection on the tragic human tendency to search for an enemy. It's funny and heartbreaking, dark and optimistic, tender and unsparing.
View full details