13 h 52 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 13 h 52 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the people closest to you are no more genuine than the false coins passing through a schoolboy’s hands?
In Paris before the First World War, Bernard Profitendieu finds a letter that calls his parentage into question. He leaves home, determined to trust his own judgment. His close friend Olivier Molinier longs for recognition and a life in writing, but admiration can make it hard to see people clearly.
Around them, families hide painful truths, schoolboys pass false coins, and writers seek influence. Olivier’s uncle Edouard keeps a journal and works on a novel called The Counterfeiters. His rival, Comte Robert de Passavant, offers glamour and fashionable opinions. André Gide brings their lives together to ask where sincerity ends and performance begins.
What you’ll discover
- A boy’s uncertain freedom Follow Bernard as he leaves home and tests his own sense of what is true.
- The hunger for admiration Meet Olivier, whose gifts and shyness sit beside a deep wish to be noticed.
- False coins, borrowed selves Explore the gap between what people are and the parts they choose to play.
- A novel within a novel Watch Edouard wrestle with writing as his own book takes shape inside Gide’s story.
- Lives beyond a straight line Enter a web of families, friendships, and secrets rather than follow a single hero.
Who will love it
This is for readers who like a novel full of voices, with young friends, secret loves, clever talk about art, and a story that comments on its own making.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Bernard leaves before knowing his direction
- A hurtful letter reveals real love
- A stolen suitcase opens another life
- Edouard studies people but misses them
- Olivier borrows a voice through flattery
- Shelter can hide an unseen danger
- False coins turn trust into leverage
- Jealousy follows the promise of freedom
- An honest life must withstand testing
Who’s who
- Bernard ProfitendieuA bold, quick schoolboy who learns he is not the judge's son, leaves home, and tries to build a life by his own rule.
- Olivier MolinierBernard's sensitive friend, a young poet who admires his uncle Edouard and is drawn toward the glitter of Passavant's circle.
- EdouardA novelist, Olivier's uncle, who keeps a journal about the book he wants to write and struggles to act on what he feels.
- Comte Robert de PassavantA rich, fashionable writer who collects talented young men and uses money and praise to hold them close.
- Vincent MolinierOlivier's older brother, a young doctor who gambles, leaves his pregnant lover Laura, and follows Lady Griffith.
- Laura DouviersA gentle married woman, abandoned by Vincent, who must choose between shame and return to her husband.
- BorisA fragile boy sent to Paris to live near his grandfather La Pérouse, longing for friendship and for angels.
- Léon GhéridanisolA cunning schoolboy who recruits friends to pass false coins and enjoys testing how far others will go.
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- Large print hardcover
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The Counterfeiters
by André Gide · 1925
Bernard finds a packet of old love letters, quits his family in an afternoon, and lands in a web of fakes.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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In short
What does a boy do when he learns that the man he calls father is not his father? In Paris, on a hot afternoon, Bernard Profitendieu is alone in the family apartment, cramming for his school exam.
The Counterfeiters at a glance
- Reading time
- About 7 h 45 min6 h 10 min fast, 9 h 10 min slow
- Length
- 110,400 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1925by André Gide
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A boy finds a secret and leaves home
Bernard is alone in the apartment. His father and brother are at the law courts, his mother is out, and he cannot work in the heat. In a console table he finds the casket of love letters. The date is clear. The letters can only be about him.
He puts everything back, even the clock, and decides not to ask his mother. He tells himself that not knowing his father frees him from fearing he will be like him. He plans a letter for the judge to find, telling him he is leaving. First he needs a bed.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1925
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 9 h 0 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Gide, André. The Counterfeiters. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-counterfeiters.
Gide, A. (2026). The counterfeiters. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-counterfeiters (Original work published 1925)
Gide, André. The Counterfeiters. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-counterfeiters.
@book{gide2026counterfeiters,
author = {Gide, André},
title = {The Counterfeiters},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-counterfeiters},
note = {First published 1925}
}
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What is The Counterfeiters about?
It follows Bernard, who leaves home after learning he is not his father's son, and his friend Olivier, set against a web of writers, families and schoolboys who pass off false coins, false feelings and false virtues.
What does the title The Counterfeiters mean?
It points to counterfeit coins in the plot and, more widely, to fake feelings, borrowed ideas and pretended virtue. Edouard, the novelist inside the book, cannot say who his counterfeiters are.
Who is Edouard in The Counterfeiters?
Edouard is Olivier's uncle, a novelist who keeps a journal about his planned book, also called The Counterfeiters. His notes mix with the main story, so the book shows its own making.
The author
André Gide
1869–1951 · French novelist
André Gide was a French author born in Paris in 1869. He lived in France and died in Paris in 1951. He wrote novels, essays, plays, and journals. His books include The Vatican Cellars, published in 1914, and The Counterfeiters, published in 1925. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1947.
More by André Gide
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