As expected with a Jean Anglade book, this is set in the Auvergne. Unusually though, this edition more or less tells the whole story on the front flap: Zébédée, a ten-year-old Martinican, runs away from home in shame after his tram-driving father is given a warning by the inspector that he will be sacked if he ever again is caught drinking while driving; Zébédée heads towards the Puy de Dôme and meets the 'Roi des fougères' ('King of the ferns'), who lives in a cave far from conventional society, and spends a few very happy days with him; and then the police discover where he is.
What's really missing here is not of course the story itself, but the character studies, which are Anglade's strongest points. One example of these is the totally irresponsible, but nevertheless strangely likeable, nature of the father Pamphile. But more particularly, the king of the ferns, later dubbed 'Jean Gabin' by Zébédée after he tidies himself up in order not to be recognised: he is one of nature's anarchists who has walked out of his job as can't stand obeying society's rules, and his resourcefulness in his cave and outside it is remarkable: he makes a reasonable living conning (particularly foreign) tourists visiting the puys (volcanic rocks) by selling them trinkets of little value, but which they consider to be of great value.
And 'Jean Gabin' loves having the young child around, treats him as a son, and even calls the doctor in when Zébédée has a nasty fall on returning from his first (and last) trip to the Puy de Dôme. Fascinating.
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