Jungle ears

Indochina, 1968. To track convoys on the Ho Chi Minh trail, the Americans drop sensors camouflaged as plants into the jungle, capable of listening to everything that passes by. At the head of Northern intelligence, Madame Ngha quickly understands how to turn these ears against those who sowed them. A duel of intelligence ensues between the world’s foremost army and a handful of fighters on bicycles.

The author is Pierre Boulle, of The Bridge over the River Kwai and Planet of the Apes fame. He knew Indochina well, having been a planter and then an agent there during the war, and he recounts this conflict with his usual irony, from the side of the underdogs who triumph through cunning. Published in 1972, while the war was still ongoing, the novel described a program of American sensors that would not be made public until years later.

This edition is illustrated by Atelier Louvéro, which gives the jungle, the machines, and Madame Ngha's ruses a graphic presence.

• Author : Pierre Boulle
• Dimensions : 190 x 125 mm
• Number of pages : 240