As night fellows day

"The inhabitants of a little village in the Poitou region are outraged by the incomprehensible murder of two of their own men. Doors are now locked, guns are brought out of hiding and readied, neighbors are suspected - the very nature of the village has changed. Pierre Moinot, praised throughout his career for his ability to establish in his writings an indelible sense of time and place, paints stirring portraits of the villagers at this crucial moment in their lives. Maria, the old servant woman still tortured by the memory of a past love. Adrien, the twelve-year-old shepherd boy who encounters love and cruelty, fantasy and reality as he comes of age; Lortier, a retired archeologist who returns to the place where he grew up only to find it haunted by his childhood memories; Alice, whose tender age does not allow her to fully understand her father's tragic death. Their lives become increasingly intertwined as they are confronted with the senseless crime, and the shocking climax only serves to remind the villagers and the reader that innocence lost can never be found again."--BOOK JACKET.