Jean Hougron was born on 1 July 1923 to a French Breton family in Calvados, a department of north-western France between Normandy and Brittany.
He began his professional life as a teacher of English and sciences in north-western towns, then moved south to Marseille to work for one year with an import-export trading firm.
From there, he exercised several trades, travelling across Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and southern China, while learning to speak some of the regional languages.
From his years in Indochina, he came with many anecdotes, observations and souvenirs, which he used to write novels, starting with Tu récolteras la tempête (1950).
In 1953, he was awarded the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française (French Academy Novel Prize)[3] for these books.