Published in the United States in 1943, this interesting novel the decline of the French intellectual class prior to the outbreak of World War II.  Not all of the characters are French, for we also find a Soviet Ambassador, paranoid and corrupt, an elderly Russian Revolutionary who is only a seeking a quiet exit from a life and efforts that he has come to doubt and a young Soviet secretary who loves to buy Paris clothing but keeps trying to convince herself that life in the Soviet Union of 1938 is better and happier than Paris.