Fantastic book. It's about the beauty of the language. I'm a German, living in french-speaking Switzerland for 16 years now. The French language remains difficult for me, but at the same time it can be very beautiful. How those people treat each other in this book is atrocious. It's all about betrayal, dishonesty, power. On how to manipulate people. But the way how they do it, hoe they use language to that purpose, is unbelievable. And now the best part: The book consists of letters. Written by a middle-aged guy, a middle-aged women, a young guy, a teenage girl, an old women. When you read those letters, you believe that these ppl wrote those letters. And yet - all are written by the one and same person, the author. Look him up at wikipedia. Read the book in French ! I found it mindblowing