The first French edition of Les Ursitory was published just after the Second World War. During the war Matéo suffered the horrors of the concentration camps, like many others in his village. This is why many years passed until the publication of this book, written at the end of the 1930s. Matéo was part of the gypsy community, always on the move, at a time where not many knew how to read or write. And he knew this. As a narrator he had a great talent and he dared to write.
