Jean-Christophe Rufin is one of the founders of Doctors Without Borders and a former Ambassador of France in Senegal. He has written numerous bestsellers, including The Abyssian, for which he won the Goncourt Prize for a debut novel in 1997. He also won the Goncourt prize in 2001 for Brazil Red.
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Jean-Christophe Rufin
All Jean-Christophe Rufin's books
Upcoming events
14-21 May 2018 at the Institut français, London
Latest reviews
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Set in Bosnia in 1995, at the height of the country’s civil war, this taut thriller is distinguished by its literary polish and moral heft. Its plot follows the efforts of five French nationals to deliver humanitarian aid to the war-torn country in a two-truck convoy: Maud...— Publishers Weekly, Jul 18 2017![]()
"Pomoc!" ("Aid!") the convoy declares at every checkpoint along their way across Bosnia to their humanitarian aid destination. But it becomes increasingly unclear what kind of aid they can provide as the group of five splinters apart, each with a different agenda. Already at...— Midwest Book Review, Jun 17 2017![]()
The author puts all his talents to use in this novel in which a team of four young people and one middle-aged man joins La Tete d’Or in Lyon, France, to deliver food, clothing, and medical supplies to people stranded without resources in the war zone.— Seeing the world through books, May 9 2017![]()
Five aid workers with divergent agendas drive a truck loaded with supplies into the heart of war-torn Bosnia.Author, doctor, and humanitarian activist Rufin poses a moral dilemma in the midst of this war novel/road adventure. The book opens on a tense scene between Maud, a young...— Kirkus Review, Nov 25 2016![]()
The Red Collar By Jean-Christophe Rufin, translated by Adrianna Hunter (Europa) Double Prix Goncourt winner Rufin focuses on a battered old dog waiting outside a prison cell where a disgruntled guard watches a war hero awaiting interrogation. The truth gradually emerges, and...— The Irish Times, Dec 17 2015![]()
After the carnage of World War I is finally over, Jacques Morlac, a decorated war hero, is arrested and held in an abandoned barracks in a small town in France, while just outside, his battered and scarred dog barks day and night for its master. Over the course of four days,...— Historical Novel Society, Nov 10 2015![]()
Recommendations of recent books from the staffs of a rotating list of Bay Area independent bookstores. This week’s list is from Books Inc., Castro: The Red Collar, by Jean Christophe Rufin: Shortly after World War I, war hero Jacques Morlac is the only prisoner in a French...— San Francisco Chronicle, Sep 17 2015![]()
“A modern parable about loyalty to others, fidelity to one’s convictions, and the self-effacement needed to bear the consequences of living by one’s beliefs.” “With the crushing heat over the town, the dog’s howling was unbearable. The animal had been there for...— New York Journal of Books, Aug 1 2015![]()
It’s the summer of 1919 in a small town in France, and a mangy dog sits outside a makeshift military prison, wailing “methodically, more or less once every three seconds, making a deep sound that was enough to drive you mad.” His master, war hero Jacques Morlac, is...— The Cedar Rapids Gazette, Jul 26 2015![]()
This novella, its author recalls, is based on a story told to him by a photographer, Benoit Gysembergh, whilst he was reporting on the “Arab Spring” in 2011. It’s a war story told to Gysembergh by his grandfather about his own experience after the First World War. Almost...— The Independent, Jul 25 2015![]()
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— Institut Français Royaume-Uni, Jul 15 2015![]()
Some books can be read in a sitting but have a profound effect. Jean-Christophe Rufin, a co-founder of Medicins Sans Frontieres is also a prize-winning novelist. The Red Collar, his ninth novel, is a simple but powerful novel based on a true story about the love and loyalty of...— WeLoveThisBook.com, Jul 13 2015![]()
A dog with no collar has been howling for two days outside the jail in a little French village. Jacques Morlac, though considered a hero of the Great War, has been imprisoned for an offense that mysteriously involves the dog, a crime that happened during the Bastille Day parade...— Shelf Awareness, Jul 7 2015![]()
The Red Collar by Jean-Christophe Rufin review: dignified and compassionate Rufin creates convincing individuals with pitch-perfect dialogue Relentless heat incapacitates a small French town. It is the summer of 1919, and life is not quite back to normal. Adding to...— The Irish Times, Jul 4 2015![]()
For such a small book this one contains a great deal about many large subjects. Faith, honor, loyalty, courage, misguided idealism, disillusionment, love and betrayal all contribute to this delicate handling of human hopes and fears. A war-weary French major is called to...— Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association, Jul 1 2015![]()
— French Culture Books, Jun 29 2015![]()
A heroic veteran of World War I faces trial for a mysterious offense. The structure of Rufin’s (The Dream Maker, 2013, etc.) novel of war and ideology is a meticulous and precise one, slowly bringing together a number of characters, each with his or her own ideals and...— Kirkus Reviews, Apr 28 2015![]()
Jean-Christophe Rufin's novel brings to vivid life the exemplary career of a little known medieval paragon: Jacques Coeur, banker, visionary and crafter of the glory that was France.— Dec 3 2013![]()
Here, at last, is a bona fide hero for readers of Les Echos! Heroes of finance and commerce who inspire us as much as an enlightened prince or an explorer are rare in the history of France, but Jacques Coeur (c. 1400-1456), revisited by novelist Jean-Christophe Rufin, is not...— Jul 9 2013
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