 Duteurtre's first novel, "Sommeil Perdu", is about a depressed young man leaving his hometown to live in Paris.It was published in 1985, when Duteurtre was a journalist writing for several French newspapers.In 1987, he published his second novel, "Les Vaches" (completed and renamed "A propos des vaches" in 2000), which presents the life of a boy growing between his school year in Le Havre and his holidays in the French mountains.