Twenty-year-old Jeannot joined up for Algeria, leaving his parents and his sister Paule on the farm. Simone has already left home to get away from their incestuous father. But the young man is called back very soon: his father committed suicide, and now it is up to him to run the farm. What had been a successful operation soon goes into decline, and Jeannot slides into paranoia, barricading himself, his mother and sister inside the house, while he stands guard, armed with a rifle. Jeannot, Paule and La Glousse become totally cut off from the outside world, confined in the house. The veterinarian is the only person who is still allowed in. So he is the one who discovers Joséphine’s body laid out near the fireplace. Jeannot buries her indoors, then places his bed over his mother’s grave, withdrawing into ancient rites of mourning and devotion. He begins to carve the floor on either side of the bed obsessively, not even stopping to eat, pursuing his task without even eating, until he draws his last breath. Paule raises her unpolished yet poetic voice to bring us the tragic tale of her family, which is also a true story. Her rough language, worn smooth by madness, creates a spellbinding tune.It expresses the characters’ pathological withdrawal with such clarity that readers will feel affected by it long after they have finished the book.

Loosely based on the story behind Jeannot’s Floor which has been shown in various museums (including the Art Brut Museum of Lausanne and the Halle Saint Pierre in Paris). Since 2007, Jeannot’s Floor has been on display at the entrance to the psychiatric hospital on Rue Cabanis, in Paris.