The Knights of King Midas

by Paul Berna

Genres: Fiction

160 pages, Hardcover

First published November 12, 1962

About the author

Paul Berna, est le pseudonyme le plus connu de Jean-Marie-Edmond Sabran (21 février 1908, Hyères - 19 janvier 1994, Paris), écrivain français du XXe siècle.

Reviews

[Falcon Blackwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

My partner has a collection of vintage Puffins that I am steadily working my way through. I found some by Paul Berna and discovered that I enjoyed the gallic charm of the names and the settings. This is no different in that respect, it is set in the south and resembles one of those frantic Ealing films made after the second world war, with children running about in their imaginary worlds, achieving surprising results and with a little moralising on the way. I find it hard to believe that a group of young children could sustain the effort or the discipline of what they do in this book, but it doesn't really matter, the writer depicts the children so that we come to like them, even if they are not always so perfect. He has a way of observing the characters which is very convincing- they are real children, even if what they are doing is a little out of the scope of the possible at that age...any age come to that!
But, even with that reservation, it is a great yarn, well told, and had me looking forward to when I could find time to read it during my day. It was a real pleasure.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that dad had read in school, and he just kept it and it was integrated into our family library. I stumbled onto it one day, decided to try it, and enjoyed it a lot.
A group of children in France decide to try and raise enough money for a group of elderly people to have new homes built, before the town commissioner can turn the property into a resort. All the way through, they look on it as a game- they have fun earning the money, and gain a friend in the process.