Gilles Perrault

Gilles Perrault (born Jacques Peyroles; 9 March 1931) is a French writer and journalist. Born in Paris, Perrault attended the Collège Stanislas de Paris and then studied at the Institut d'études politiques, eventually becoming a lawyer, a profession he worked in for five years. After the success of his essay Les parachutistes (1961), inspired by his military service in Algeria, he became a journalist and wrote articles about Nehru's India, the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and the problems of African Americans in the United States. He then investigated less well-known aspects of World War II. Since 1961, he has lived in Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, Manche, upon which he wrote the book Les gens d'ici ("People from here"). Le Secret du jour J (1964) (Secrets of D-Day, 1974) won a prize from the Comité d'action de la Résistance and was an international bestseller. L'Orchestre rouge (1967) was even more successful. In 1969, Perrault published a spy novel, Le dossier 51. In 1978, Perrault published Le Pull-over rouge, a novel in which he criticized the method of investigation done by the French police around the 1974 death of an eight-year-old girl. Christian Ranucci, a French man, was executed by guillotine for the murder on 28 July 1976. Perrault's case, calling Ranucci's guilt into question, held a great influence in the debate upon capital punishment in France. It has reportedly had a notable impact upon a part of public opinion, having sold over 1 million copies. Perrault was c…