Miss Rovel

Raymond Ferray is a striking figure of intellect and contradiction. Orphaned early, he was raised by a pragmatic uncle who oversaw his considerable inheritance, allowing the young man to indulge his twin passions for poetry and science. Gifted in languages—Hebrew, Persian, Arabic—he quickly earned a reputation as a prodigy, his sharp mind and exotic bearing earning him the nickname “the Bedouin” among his schoolmates. Yet a bitter betrayal by a former lover has left him wary of women, forging a misanthropic edge that colors his interactions.

Driven by a singular ambition, Raymond decides to write the definitive history of the Prophet Muhammad, a work he believes will cement his place among the great scholars of the Orient. To gather authentic material, he journeys deep into Arabia, adopting the guise of a dervish and joining pilgrim caravans to the holiest sites. His immersion in desert life and his daring disguise set the stage for a compelling clash between scholarly rigor and the raw realities of the lands he seeks to understand.