[Back cover translation] They are three unlikely friends united by chance in a small Jura village. Serge, blond, fragile and posh; Christophe, opulent like the family grocery, and last but not least Robert, plumber apprentice who flies his home where drunkenness rules and whose only confort is Gilberte, the neighbouring farmer’s daughter.  They are not - yet -  criminals. Just kids misunderstood by their parents, left to their own devices, unable to fit in the society. Excited by the theft of cheeses, they decide to go ‘big’ in Malataverne. Serge and Christophe have got it all planned. Only Robert is undecided. Cowardice? Honesty? Superstition? No one can help him. He is alone facing his conscience. Alone facing Gilberte. Alone facing Malataverne, the cursed place.

Malataverne was first published by Robert Laffont in 1960.