Gide's only work he called a novel, this is an intricate story set in Paris among families, schoolboys and aspiring writers. Several threads run together: a magistrate's troubled household, a young man leaving home, a novelist who is writing a book about writing a novel, and a ring of boys passing false coins. The title points to counterfeiting of every sort, in money, feelings and art. Playful in form and serious in theme, it is a landmark of modern fiction, much admired for how it shows the process of storytelling itself.