Promise at Dawn

Perhaps the only memorial by a son that raises the rare literary pleasure of laughter in the reader as a measure of appreciation. * The New Yorker *A celebrated and infinitely seductive portrait of his early life, which is still often described as an unprecedented innovation in the writing of autobiography in France – David BellosWhat a gold mine! – Jean Paul SartreWhat talent, most certainly, how many ideas and passions too. You seize us and shake us. Ah! – Charles de Gaulle

Romain Gary was one of the most important French writers of the 20th century. He won the once-in-a-lifetime honour the Prix Goncourt twice, the only person ever to have done so, by writing under a secret nom de plume. He was married to the American actress Jean Seberg and served in the RAF during WW2. He died in Paris in 1980 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, shortly after completing this haunting last work.