a novel tribute to the people who lost their lives in Normandy

Former resident of Vernon (Eure), living in Périgueux, Gilles Langlois, retired at 69, is passionate about writing. As proof, he published his 6^e roman, Traitor Hill. “It’s not a detective, nor a thriller, nor a thriller, it’s a kind of investigation », Specifies the writer.

A priest at the heart of the novel’s plot

The action takes place in Normandy at the end of the Second World War. The synopsis: Antoine Cordier returned at the end of 46 to Hauteville where he was the priest until 1940, the date of the tragedy of La Colline aux Biches. A mysterious witness has revelations to make about who was responsible for the massacre of the hostages.

As parish priest, Antoine had received a confession from the person responsible for the tragedy but he could not betray the secret of the confession. Antoine will explain the reasons for his departure and those for his return.

The unexpected testimony of this stranger will perhaps allow him to reveal the truth about the person(s) responsible for this dramatic episode which traumatized an entire village. The return of the former priest of Hauteville will obviously create new unrest in the community.

I wanted to write a novel as a tribute to the people who lost their lives in Normandy. My parents witnessed the suffering during that time in that region.

The writer makes connections with his other novels. For example, the main character, the ex-priest, collaborates for a newspaper, the Clairon, which will become Clairon Libre, and which is the title of his 3^e novel, published in 2017. This character evolves in an environment not always accepted in which the writer constructs the most coherent story.

Gilles Langlois grants a lot of importance to the psychology of the characters.

Each of my novels is based on a central character with qualities and faults. The idea is to see how my characters react in a given environment. I know what characters I’m going to work with, what story I’m going to tell. I know where I’m starting from and where I’m going.

A few months of design

He began designing his book in January 2024 for publication eleven months later, at the beginning of November. “There are days when I don’t write. Over a week, I write about four days. I’m working two to four hours on the novel. At night, ideas come to me. If I have ideas during the day, I write them down. Literature takes up more and more space », affirms Gilles Langlois.

At home, his library is made up of a lot of books.

I have thousands of books, with Balzac, Rousseau, etc. My literary references are Émile Zola, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, classic French and foreign authors.

After completing his 6^e novel, Gilles Langlois continues to think about ideas for his next novel. “I already have five stories in progress, to be developed. I have to take them again, correct them, modify them,” underlines the retiree.

Traitor Hillavailable in bookstores and on online platforms.

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