THE FRENCH SETTLER WIFE

Marie is the wife of a French settler. Her husband, Denis Mauduit, twenty years older than she, is the sole descendant of a family of colonials ; tough people clinging to their absolute beliefs, their lands, their privileges.

The heroes of this novel by John La Galitte did not come together pleasantly. A dark star makes up the two triangles.  On the one hand are Marie the young idealistic wife, Denis the bitter, frustrated but shrewd husband, and David the bright young man whose role once ended disappears leaving Marie to a tragic fate.

On the other is the voracious demanding land which bends men to her will never letting them forget the colonial values dogmatically enforced by the guardians of the temple, the Mauduit elders. Finally, the hard climate and the heat which bakes the senses and the blood permeate all. 

It is the beginning of the 1950’s. Shortly thereafter came the explosions of the uprisings which led to the independence of Algeria.