En famille (French) - Softcover

Comme cela arrive souvent le samedi vers trois heures, les abords de la porte de Bercy étaient encombrés, et sur le quai, en quatre files, les voitures s'entassaient à la queue leu leu: haquets chargés de fûts, tombereaux de charbon ou de matériaux, charrettes de foin ou de paille, qui tous, sous un clair et chaud soleil de juin, attendaient la visite de l'octroi, pressés d'entrer dans Paris à la veille du dimanche. Parmi ces voitures, et assez loin de la barrière, on en voyait une d'aspect bizarre avec quelque chose de misérablement comique, sorte de roulotte de forains mais plus simple encore, formée d'un léger châssis tendu d'une grosse toile; avec un toit en carton bitumé, le tout porté sur quatre roues basses.

Hector Malot (1830-1907) was a French writer born in La Bouille, Seine-Maritime. He studied law in Rouen and Paris, but eventually literature became his passion. He worked as a dramatic critic for Lloyd Francais and as a literary critic for "L'Opinion Nationale." His first book, published in 1859, was" Les Amants." Malot eventually wrote more than 70 books. By far his most famous book is "Sans Famille" ("Nobody's Boy, " 1878), which deals with the travels of the young orphan Remi, who is sold to the street musician Vitalis at age 10. "Sans Famille" gained fame as a children's book, though it was not originally intended as such. He announced his retirement as an author of fiction in 1895, but in 1896 he returned with the novel "L'amour Dominateur" as well as the account of his literary life "Le Roman de mes Romans" (The Novel of my Novels).