They’re on vacation. But isn’t the basic contradiction of vacations the fact that they offer civilized beings a chance to get back to nature? The people from La Clairière, an isolated country house deep inside the forest, have gone so thoroughly back to nature that, hour by hour, they are completely losing touch with civilization.

And so the city-dwellers begin to change. From the need for sustenance to the mysteries of death that they are confronted with, they experience all of mortal anguish with the naivety of the first humans. They recreate an entire universe around themselves, inventing chants and their own ways of worshipping and fearing the sun and the starry night sky. From solitary individuals, they mutate into a new sort of family. But on the seventh day, civilization comes calling.

Published in 1971 by Buchet/Chastel, this survivalist novel with venomous charm and an extremely efficient style hasn’t aged a bit.

After a series of incomprehensible events, La Clairière, an isolated country house, winds up cut off from the rest of the world. For six days, twelve characters will grapple with inactivity, incomprehension and inquietude, gradually losing their grasp on civilization.