Le bureau des objets trouvés

Henry Neff, aged fourteen and fourteen, has joined the office of the railway company's objets trouvés. Henry doesn't want a career, he likes to live in the midst of social demands and is satisfied with the expertise of the manufactured objects. They "stimulate the imagination", he explains to his colleagues. Certains de ses objets se voient tirés de l'exil par leur propriétaire. They then become minuscule tranches of life, pretexts to the legends for which Henry plays the role of the actor in the scene. one day, Henry reports his sacoche to Fédor Lagutin. A high-level mathematician originally from Oural, Fédor is invited to a colloquium organised by the university. Henry is charmed by Fédor's German, who, from his side, is willingly enthralled by Henry's affection for him. This friendship is the first intrusion of reality into Henry's universe. Fédor is born of a population of friendly nomads, respectful of others and a scrupulous politesse. When it comes to maths, they have created a barrier between his everyday life and him, a barrier of respectable intellectual relationships. How could he understand these motards who attack and insult him because he is Russian? How could he arm himself in the face of the racist proposals of his fellow citizens? Fédor leads Germany, leaving Henry in disgust.At work, fissures form in Henry's imaginary bulle: Paula, his colleague, is suffering from the desire for a husband who is leaving her; Albert, a young boy who is in debt to his father, is in trouble. And Barbara, the sister he has always regarded as a pillar, is destroyed by the death of Fédor, and little by little Henry realises that every life is an oasis. In the image of these owners, who create objects that are irreplaceable for them, Paula, Barbara, Fédor and Albert endeavour to maintain their espérance, fidelity and friendship. Gardien des objets, Henry accepts to understand that he can - that he must - be one of these anonymous guards of the best part of man?