“Baltringues” are circus-hands, workers who travel from circus to circus, raising tents and bleachers. They are tough drifters, guys with muscular arms but with the hearts and minds of children. This group is no exception, and entering their world is entering a Technicolor universe that persists from country to country, culture to culture, give or take a few variations. Hope is not plentiful here, but as they live for the moment, and are used to belonging to the down-trodden class, this is not an unhappy group. When a stray dog wanders into their lives, it changes all this, for this is no ordinary dog. Chiapas, as they call him, is a “subject”, a talented animal, of star quality, the kind that only comes along once a century. It’s the kind of animal you can start your own circus with. And so they do. With a mix of light and dark humor, and all the humanity in the world, Les baltringues is one circus you’ll never forget. “Ludovic Roubaudi has produced a most original first novel with a classic structure. What is most surprising is the milieu in which the story is set, based, it seems, on a true story and real people [Š]. Roubaudi, who seems to have already lived several lives in very different worlds, must still have plenty of stories to pull out of the bag.”

--Livres Hebdo