Crainquebille — Anatole France

A novel that primarily concerns the adventures of a street vendor who, old and homeless, accidentally insults a police officer and winds up in jail. He then deliberately insults another police officer in an attempt to return to jail, where he had been fed and cared for. The book also includes numerous other stories and sketches. Anatole France won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1921 - a noted man of letters, he was a leading figure of French literary life.