Olivier Rolin is one of France¿s most distinguished novelists. His Port-Sudan won the Prix Femina, and Tigre en Papier was short-listed for the 2003 Goncourt Prize. This is the first translation of his work into English. William Cloonan is the Richard Chapple Professor of Modern Languages at Florida State University. He is the author of The Writing of War: French and German Fiction and World War II.