About the book: 1967 / I didn’t immediately notice the woman who sat down at the next table. Her answer to the garçon’s question about what she would like to order: “I don’t know... oh... My God!... I don’t know,” made me turn around. She was a blonde of about forty, still quite attractive in appearance. It was obvious that she had recently experienced some kind of shock. Garson began to be irritated by such vague manners of his client, and I hastened to help the woman: “Excuse me, madam, did something happen to you?” She looked at me, and I remembered that I had once seen the same look on a drowning man who had been pulled out. from the Gironde, when he was about to sink...