''Je vous écris d'Italie'' ("I write to you from Italy") is a 1984 novel by the French writer

Michel Déon Michel Déon (; 4 August 1919 – 28 December 2016) was a French novelist and literary columnist. He published over 50 works and was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Prix Interallié for his 1970 novel, ''Les Poneys sauvages'' (The ...

. It is set in Italy in the summer of 1949 and follows a young French historian who tries to solve a mystery connected to a secret pagan festival. The novel received the

Prix Maison de la Presse The Prix Maison de la Presse is an annual French literary prize, established in 1970 by the Syndicat national des dépositaires de presse (SNDP) and Gabriel Cantin. Until 2005 it was known as Prix des Maisons de la Presse and given out in the two ...

Plot

Jacques Sauvage is a young French historian and

Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (''The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de P ...

enthusiast. He fought for the French army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and briefly visited the small town Varela in

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

, Italy, in 1945. He returns to the area four years later in hope of being able to solve a mystery connected to the historically rich surroundings. The key to the mystery is a pagan festival which the locals are preparing in secret.

References

External links

Publicity page
at the French publisher's website {{DEFAULTSORT:Je vous ecris d'Italie 1984 French novels French-language novels Novels by Michel Déon Novels set in Italy Éditions Gallimard books