Why did great-aunt Louise turn her sister Suzanne's apartment upside down? What documents was she trying to find, and what was in the burned letters? Is it true that they spoke of the shameful offense of Hervé Guibert's mother? Why did his father urgently leave Nice, leaving behind his veterinarian's office, a sailboat, a green Ford, two horses and a bride? What kind of blackmail do little Herve's parents resort to in order to get their hands on family heirlooms? And where is the gold hidden, which is buried and dug up, unable to part with it? – For parents, there is nothing worse than a son’s uncontrollable desire to search for the truth.

“I have been planning to write a book about parents for ten years. But then everything went very quickly. And I wrote secretly, as if hiding from someone...”

Herve Guibert

“Today, descriptions of family battles have become commonplace. But when Guibert published My Parents in 1986, he was the first to do this. You only have to open the book to see how much courage it required. When Guibert confesses to his father that he is gay, his father replies that he is now afraid of losing his job. After the book was published, Guibert wrote in his diary: “I became a criminal. I go outside and understand: everything will not be the same as before. Now I look at people differently, and they look at me. I committed a crime and they don't know about it yet. Their trial and their verdict awaits me.” When the writer’s father read the book, he thanked his son for sending him to death at the end of the text: “At least some kind of relief!”