little franz

mérette (1982)

ermanno roveri in Il piccolo scrivano fiorentino (1915)

it takes place in spain during ww1 and the main character is a 18 year old boy named helmut nieves who works as an intern at the hospital where his uncle works after his father died. helmut is instructed to look after a patient named gilbert, a veteran, whose top part of his face is disfigured and mutilated from being tortured by the enemy. after gilbert and helmut become close, gilbert says that he can actually see, and that the war did not do this to his face but instead something else. it is sort of like a mystery, but i still need to figure out what exactly happened to gilbert and why can he see. ive been thinking maybe it was a demonic being that did it to him, but i am unsure as of lately. the way helmut finds out that gilbert can see is by him pointing out his black hair (hence the title of the book.) it has lots of plot holes and i am not sure about any of the information yet, but this is what ive been brainstorming.