The Statement, By Brian Moore

Pierre Brossard has lived a secret life for the last 40 years. Condemned to death in absentia for crimes against humanity, his past is threatening to catch up with him. The political climate in France has changed and Vichy collaborators and anti-Semites are being hunted down.

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Forced to flee the security of a Provençal monastery, Brossard is now an old man on the run. But as time passes, his protectors in the Catholic church seem less reliable, his pursuers unknowable.

First published in 1995, the late Brian Moore's 18th novel is also one of his best - a gripping moral thriller based on the real life story of Paul Touvier, "the torturer of Lyon".

Tautly written and steeped in atmosphere, Moore's story immerses us in the provincial south - a place where hit men snack on tarte aux amandes.