Et Puis Le Silence

AND THEN THERE WAS SILENCE Yves Magne Somewhere in Europe in the present day, an unnamed country is in the last throes of a devastating civil war. A handful of volunteers on a humanitarian mission are forced to find refuge in an isolated barn in order to escape an invisible sniper. One of the members of the group is wounded and, unable to move, is left to lie outside on the ground. His cries for help provoke feelings of guilt and anxiety in those inside the barn and punctuate their agonizing wait. Will they dare risk their lives to aid their fallen comrade? These are men and women who made a conscious choice to help others, but how far will they go when their own life is at stake? Will their duty to others be stronger? The stifling, nerve wracking tension inside the barn continues for over twenty hours while each one of them must search their past and confront their weaknesses and contradictions in an attempt to find the answers. What brought them there to that time and place? A sometimes bitter, but sometimes also luminous novel that alternates between present and past to better give rise to the intimate voice of this universal drama. Yves Magne is the pseudonym of a writer who, until now, has been known mostly for his entertaining crime and historical novels. With Et puis le silence, he enters both a darker and more profound domain.