Silbermann

This short powerhouse of a novel set in Paris in the 1920s follows the friendship between two 15-year-old schoolboys: one a Gentile (the narrator) and the other a Jew. Loyalties are tested as Silbermann becomes the target of the growing anti-Semitism that is spreading throughout French society. Ironically the narrators father is asked to preside over a case indicting Silbermanns father. In the end a beloved friendship and familial bonds are undermined as idealism gives way to the painful realization of the moral compromises of adulthood.