Les "Faisans"

A night in a Parisian gambling hall becomes the unlikely launchpad for a small‑time player known only by his strange nickname. He rides a streak of luck, turning modest chips into a fortune, only to pause at the brink of a final, tempting wager. The decision to walk away pulls him into the city's restless after‑hours, where a hastily mailed envelope and a midnight ride across Montmartre set the tone for a world of colorful acquaintances—doctors, colonels, architects, and a perpetual cigar‑smoking grandfather—all speaking in the same smoky lounges.

Through brisk dialogue and vivid street details, the novel sketches a slice of interwar Paris where chance, camaraderie, and the lure of easy money collide. The protagonist’s modest triumph and his sudden, almost ceremonial departure from the table hint at deeper questions about honor, temptation, and the fragile line between modest ambition and reckless excess. Listeners will be drawn into an atmosphere that feels both intimate and bustling, inviting them to wonder where the night’s fleeting victories might lead.