| This is one of those special reads that does more than entertain, it enlightens the reader about the most profound questions about being human. War is raging throughout France. Rose is in late pregnancy and alone at the family chateau, her husband having been sent off to fight. Enemy soldiers come upon her and see her as an easy target; they rape and beat her and leave her for dead. And there in her agony, she gives birth to a boy, Alexandre. But the child will not be like other children. Warped and deformed by the kicks and punches she had suffered at the hands of her rapists, he is born with crippled legs. His doting religious mother tries to alleviate his despair as he grows older, but he is a physical and spiritual wreck, and he takes his frustrations out on his mother and God. His healthy younger brother Gustave grows up to be everything that Alex wants to be but cannot due to the limitations of his condition. They hate each other. Alex falls madly in love with his brother's lover, but will she return his feelings? Can she too overlook his crippled condition and be serious about him? This deeply moving story is one young broken man's search for physical and spiritual healing through the power of love. |