Malevil

Malevil is a 1972 science fiction novel by French writer Robert Merle.

[1] The story's events take place in rural France in the late twentieth century.

The protagonist is Emmanuel Comte, former school director, now turned farmer and landowner.

By chance, Emmanuel and several of his friends find themselves in the wine cellar of the castle during the unexpected outbreak of nuclear war.

One of the main challenges of the slowly emerging society is to fend off the threat of a new theocratic dictatorship that has taken over a neighboring village with the assistance of a marauding gang.