Prudence grew up on a boat, sailing with the wind, following her parents' dream.

The novel takes us from the coast of Africa to the West Indies, with a detour to the United States.

The drama is present right from the start, in the background of this novel that depicts the idyllic life of a close-knit family. The mother's betrayal and the parents' separation are evoked through the eyes of a rebellious teenager, torn from a life of dreams.

Prudence has to reconstruct herself in a world that is totally foreign to her.

The novel recounts this time of wandering and fragility, with memories of a life of travel and adventure gradually fading, giving way to the resilience of the heroine and her family.

A man falls little by little into madness, feeling constantly an invisible presence next to him. An old man tells with a cracking voice, a meeting he made about 50 years ago in a sinister castle. On a stormy night, the bearded face of a ghost comes to torment its murderer.

Madame Loisel is a beautiful woman who wants nothing but to be rich. She's bored by her simple life of the bourgeoisie. One night, at a party, she borrows a superb necklace from a friend: a river of diamonds. But, during the party, Madame Loisel loses the jewel...

These 21 tales encapsulate all the elements of Guy de Maupassant's art. They primarily depict the small and great miseries of the humble, whether in the city or the countryside, narrated in a minor key, subtly colored by a smile, sometimes a mocking laugh, often a ferocious sneer. These are also, and above all, stories that keep the reader on the edge of their seat. Death is present, sometimes invisible, but lurking, and it suddenly appears around the corner of a page. These tales, emerging from the depths of a soul where the great wandering has begun, are the Contes de jour et de la nuit—stories in black and white, where blinding flashes streak through the depths of the night.

"You were born girls. At no point, from your very first second, did I imagine this could mean anything other than a conviction of equality..."

Two resonating texts:

• From Intertwined Fibers by Thomas Scotto
• Paris 1909, and if my house burns by Cathy Ytak