When "Urbain Martin" died, he left behind two notebooks, which his grandson, the writer, will rely on to tell his grandfather's story in "The War and the Turpentine." So we get to know “Urban”, the child, the son of a humble church painter, and “Urban” the young man who miraculously escaped death in an iron foundry, and “Urban” the soldier, and “Urban” the man who married the sister of the one who was the love of his life, while he is haunted by the memory of the war and his dream that become an artist. As the grandson tries to understand the past and find his place in the present, he succeeds in painting a dazzling picture of an exceptional person in a difficult time, similar to a Renaissance mural, and reveals how one life can resonate throughout the ages..