In 1919, in a small town in the province of Berry, France, under the sweltering temperatures of summer heat wave, a war hero is being held prisoner in an abandoned barrack. In front of the door to his prison, a mangy dog barks night and day. Miles from where he is being held, in the French countryside, an intelligent young woman works the land, waiting and hoping. And a military investigating officer, whose principles have been sorely shaken by the war, must complete his last assignment before returning home. Three characters. In their midst, a dog holds the key both to their futures and to this intriguing plot. Full of poetry and life, The Red Collar is at once a pleasingly straightforward narrative about the human spirit and a profound work about loyalty and love.

Jean-Christophe Rufin
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.

• Dec 17 2015
  Eileen Battersby’s books of the year: Fiction
  — The Irish Times
• Nov 10 2015
  The Red Collar
  — Historical Novel Society
• Sep 17 2015
  "The book is perfectly paced, darkly humorous and an excellent window into the turmoil and emerging politics of postwar France."
  — San Francisco Chronicle
• Aug 1 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."
  — New York Journal of Books
• Jul 26 2015
  "...The Red Collar is a story so haunting and powerful that it hits as hard and true as a blast from a shell."
  — The Cedar Rapids Gazette
• Jul 25 2015
  "Utterly compelling in its psychological understanding."
  — The Independent