A free-spirited woman navigates the Second World War with splendor and selfishness.

Louison is a young woman full of life, headstrong and impulsive. Whilst the war is breaking out, she gets engaged secretly to an Italian living in Algeria. Deciding to join him at all costs, she leaves her bourgeoise family in Normandy to try and reach the port of Marseille amidst the chaos. On her arrival, however, maritime connections are cut off, and she finds herself living alone without any money in an unfamiliar town. A man comes to her rescue : the mysterious and powerful Tonton, head of the criminal gangland, who runs the underworld of prostitution and who will reveal himself to be a powerful member of the resistance. Thanks to him, Louison belongs to the rare group of priviledged people who, despite the German occupation, lack neither the necessary nor the superfluous. Even though she has no desire for a child to cramp her style, she falls in love with, and then pregnant by, David, a young Jewish member of the resistance. Louison, who pays no heed to the motherland in danger, will consider serving one cause only : her own.

Born in Cairo, Paula Jacques is a novelist. Deborah et les anges dissipés received the Femina prize in 1991.