This is not just a study of defeat, but also ofcharacter. Bernard has the care of the Marshall’s body, but not that of his own soul. Yet he has to deal with the horrible events of ‘44 to ‘46 as a participant, not an observer: his childhood friend’s exterminations in Russia, Céline in Sigmaringen, the abortive trial and execution of Pierre Laval. To read Collaboration, an Italian critic noted, is not just to revisit a sordid period in the death-throes of Nazi Germany, but to be taken by a masterful writer through the psychology of defeat, of what happens when one’s ideals turn out to be ‘wrong’ and have to be paid for.