The work of one of the most interesting writers in France, Jean Giono (1895–1970), is represented in the collection by his most striking works - the novels “The King Without Fun” and “The Hussar on the Roof”. In the first novel, the action takes place in a small Alpine village. Suddenly people start disappearing. The search yields no results, and local residents are slowly seized by an almost animal horror of an unknown kidnapper... The novel “Hussar on the Roof” is a historical chronicle of a real tragedy that struck the south of France in 1838—about a terrible cholera epidemic. Life brings the hero of the novel, Colonel Angelo, to these lands. Will he be able to resist fate and survive?