Author(s): Fabrice Humbert

Fiction

This title deals with globalisation as seen through the attack on Sila, an immigrant waiter. Paris, June 1995. In a luxury restaurant, a waiter is violently attacked by a guest. No one moves. Neither the Russian couple, nor the wife of the aggressor, nor the two young traders come to celebrate their first jobs on the floor. An event not worth lingering over? As lives unfold, all events have consequences. And on this occasion, the brutality, indifference or cowardice of those present will signal the beginning of their respective downfalls. From the fall of the Berlin wall to the financial crash of 2008, in a world defined by wealth, the crossed destinies of actors of this first scene, from Russian oligarch to property speculator weave a web. At the web's centre is Sila, the floored immigrant whose refusal to be a victim will bring the house down. Once again, Fabrice Humbert has written a brilliant book that questions the responsibility of each of us and shows that to do nothing is also an action.