La nouvelle Carthage

Set in the shadow of a sprawling industrial quarter, the novel opens with the somber funeral of Jacques Paridael. Young Laurent, the deceased’s only son, is thrust into a world of rigid ceremony and indifferent relatives, his raw grief clashing with the cold efficiency of his new guardian, Guillaume Dobouziez. As the boy fumbles with the distribution of alms, the scene reveals a society that values propriety over compassion.

Back at the Dobouziez household, the austere matriarch Lydie oversees a home where duty and reputation eclipse tenderness. Laurent is subtly coerced into masking his sorrow, while whispers of business and ambition swirl around the dinner table. Through these early encounters, the story paints a vivid portrait of a community struggling between tradition and emerging tides of change, inviting listeners to follow Laurent’s uneasy navigation of loss, expectation, and the hidden currents of his new world.