The Foundling Boy, By Michel Déon The Foundling Boy is about Jean, brought up by adoptive parents who work for an eccentric and generous man, Antoine, and his wife. Jean acquires Antoine's sense of adventure. Antoine's own trips from Normandy through France to the South are described in such vivid detail that this reader's nostrils flared to the scent of lavender and thyme, the salty smell of the sea, and the Midi sun browning the legs of Antoine's young mistress, on whom he plies impressionist masterpieces by the likes of Derain before the artists achieve fame. Jean follows suit with trips to London (where, to his chagrin, his bicycle is made into a Surrealist sculpture) and then through Europe. A delight.