In the fall of 1914, young Lusignan sets off for the Great War, having already survived a tragicomic Catholic childhood and a career as a disgraced author and journalist. But shortly before departing for Europe, he has an encounter with his fellow officer d'Argentuil -- suave, self-possessed, both a man of the people and an aristocrat -- that proves to be the defining moment in his life. Lusignan returns from the war a broken man, kept alive by a...