The Boy

The Boy (French: Le Garçon) is a 2016 literary fiction novel by French author Marcus Malte, originally published by Éditions Zulma. It was translated by Emma Ramadan and Tom Roberge and was published in English, in 2019, by Restless Books. The novel follows a nameless feral boy, who travels from Eastern Europe to numerous civilizations in France. On the boy's journey, he becomes entangled in World War 1 and suffers from the loss of loved ones, as well as PTSD from the trench warfare. The novel received two awards following its publication. Plot Summary The novel opens in 1908, with the mute boy, who will remain unnamed by the third-party narrator, taking his dying mother to her final resting place by a lake. After his mother dies, the boy leaves their camp in Eastern Europe. He reaches a hamlet where he is discovered by the villagers. As the villagers debate what to do, the leader of the hamlet, Joseph, along with his son, Louis-Paul (Kazoo), decide that the boy can live in the barns and work in the hamlet. The boy becomes sick, and is nursed back to health by Joseph and Louis-Paul, using the Zapotec healing rituals of Joseph’s deceased wife. They allow him to be part of their family. An earthquake kills the hamlet’s baby. One of the citizens, Eugéne, blames the boy for the death. The boy becomes scared and runs away. While living in the woods, the boy meets a circus strongman and fighter named Ernest Bieule. Ernest’s stage name is Brabek: the Ogre of the Carpatian Mountains. He invites the boy to be his assistant. They travel in a caravan to numerous cities in France, including: Veynes, Eyguians, and Orpierre. Brabek loses a fight for the first time and hangs himself soon after. The boy runs away from the body, taking the horse and caravan. The boy’s caravan crashes into a car outside of Tousses le Noble commune. The car’s driver, Emma Van Ecke, along with her father, Gustave Van Ecke, an apple pomologist and oboe player, live in the commune. With the help of the family doctor, Amédée Theoux, they heal the boy. Emma adopts him as a brother and names him "Félix". From 1911 to 1914, Emma and the boy develop a romantic relationship. The family moves to the Boulevard du Temple in Paris where Emma teaches piano. The boy and Emma collect rare books, such as the Kama Sutra, while they become sexually explorative. The narration flashes to short updates about world events.