A New York Times Notable Book 2018A rebel French writer ... a brilliant storyteller a master craftsman and one of Frances most original writers Independent The Kites is a novel touched from beginning to end with grace a great saga about the innate dignity of love that succeeds in the feat of being funny and poetic tender and sharp committed and fierce with a touch of brilliance in the art of dialogue Muriel Barbery author of The Elegance of the HedgehogA quiet village in Normandy 1932. Ludo is ten years old and lives with his uncle a kindly eccentric creator of elaborate kites. One day sitting in a strawberry field Ludo meets the beautiful young Polish aristocrat Lila. And so begins Ludos lifelong adventure of love and longing for Lila who only begins to return his feelings just as Europe descends into the devastation of World War 2. After Poland and France fall Lila and Ludo are separated. Ludos friends in the village must find their own ways of resisting the local restaurateur who is dedicated above all to Frances haute cuisine a Jewish brothel madam who sleeps with her unwitting enemies and Ludo who cycles past the Nazis every day passing on messages for the French Resistance thinking always of Lila.