The counterfeiters

"The counterfeiters : (Les faux-monnayeurs) by André Gide is a novel written in the early 20th century. A polyphonic coming‑of‑age story set in Paris, it intertwines the lives of youths, writers, and worldly schemers to examine authenticity, moral compromise, and the forging of identity. Early focal figures include the defiant student Bernard Profitendieu, his sensitive friend Olivier Molinier, the literary uncle Edouard, and the calculating aristocrat Robert de Passavant. The opening follows Bernard as he discovers a hidden letter proving his illegitimacy, coolly abandons his bourgeois home, and secretly spends the night in Olivier’s room near the Luxembourg Gardens. At home, Judge Profitendieu reels from Bernard’s scathing farewell and shields the rest of the family with a lie, while his wife’s guilt resurfaces. In hushed, nocturnal talks, Bernard and Olivier trade confidences—Olivier’s awkward first sexual encounter and suspicions about their older brother Vincent’s entanglement with a woman. The scene shifts to Vincent, who, burdened by his pregnant lover Laura, is drawn into the orbit of the suave Passavant and the seductive Lady Lilian; a night of gambling brings Vincent a sudden windfall even as Passavant’s father dies upstairs and a younger brother keeps vigil. At dawn, Bernard slips out into Paris with only a few coins, buoyed by hunger, freedom, and the promise of “adventure.”

The counterfeiters, by André Gide. Republished by OpenStories from Project Gutenberg eBook #76965.