News from Sainte-Engrâce? Chronicles of an Ordinary Hero

Chronicles of an Ordinary Intelligence Services Hero

y name is Alex. My father is Jewish and my mother is English. An explosive combination during the Second World War. I was fourteen years old when we escaped the Nazis via the Pyrenees, taking refuge first in Spain, then in Portugal.

It was in Sainte-Engrâce, an isolated village in the heart of the Soule, that my life changed course. In my life, I had two ambitions: to become a soldier and an accomplished horseman. I took part in the conflicts in Indochina and Algeria. As a member of the French intelligence services, my missions became the catalyst for many extraordinary experiences. The horse would be the common thread running through my journey. It acted on me as a virtuous outlet, a personal and family fulfilment. Rich in authentic adventures where drama and lightness intertwine,

this account shares the perspective of a man confronting the aftermath of the Second World War, so revealing of the ills of our twenty-first century. The protagonist recounts his own experience of the damage wrought by colonialism, the totalitarian excesses of communism, and the roots of the inexorable radicalisation of Islam. In sometimes darkly comic fashion, he also evokes his many close brushes with death, singular markers of his eventful existence.