Article from Ouest France

The extraordinary novel of a civil servant

Carquefou. Fifty pages of an adventure by Paul Praxis, who looks back, not without humor, on a high-risk mission he has been entrusted with.

Ouest-France

Modified on 05/26/2015 at 12:45 AM

The year is 1994. There is a crisis among the miners of the Houllières du Bassin de Lorraine. Jobs are at stake, many of them. Caught between a young boss with a big appetite who is proposing radical measures and the closure of the mines, a prefect and a Minister of Industry more inclined to take a softer approach, a media on the lookout, and particularly angry unions, before writing his report, Gilles Coaltar will have to choose: obey his superiors... Or not!

An autobiographical story

Cover of the novel published by Editions du Panthéon

A slice of life, written by Paul Praxis, the pseudonym of this Carquefou resident, a civil servant still in office. "The facts, the context, the anecdotes... Everything is absolutely true. It's an autobiographical story, but wanting to clearly define the boundary between family and professional life, and being still active, I preferred to remain anonymous. Moreover, the names of the characters, Gilles Coaltar (coal in English) and the others, are also fictitious. But the reader will undoubtedly have no trouble identifying the various protagonists in my story," says the author.

A story that reveals, not without humor, the underside of a negotiation that would lead to the 1994 coal pact, and would end ten years later with the definitive closure of the last Lorraine mine.

And a story to be continued

A story that fits into fifty pages: "A deliberately condensed format to adapt to digital media, and perfect for the reader accustomed to TGV journeys!" Others are in preparation. "This first work is part of a larger autobiographical project," because while he has resolutely opted for humor and lightness, Paul Praxis's life is anything but a bed of roses.