Jean-Michel Guenassia, a new name in European prose, the author of the novel THE CLUB OF INCREDIBLE OPTIMISTS. French critics called his book great, and French high school students awarded the author the Goncourt Prize. The hero of the novel is twelve years old. This is Paris in the early sixties. And this is the notorious transitional age, when everything: school, communication with parents and life in general - is difficult. Michel Marini is no different from his peers, except for his passion for photography and selfless love of reading. And he also has a secret refuge - this is the back room of a Parisian bistro. There, strange people who fled from countries separated from the free world by the Iron Curtain argue, yearn, play chess while waiting for their fate to be decided. Surprisingly, it is here, in this room, nicknamed the Club of Incorrigible Optimists, that the power lines of the era cross.