Nothing much changes after François secures a tenured academic position. Not only did he not have the slightest vocation for teaching but nor did he have any liking for young people. The transmission of knowledge, he believes, is generally impossible. To make sure that everything is still in working order he watches videos on YouPorn. Pornographic scenarios involving two women of varied race reassure him that all is well.

But the background to this sordid existence is an evolving political situation characterised by the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in France. By his own admission, François was about as “political as a bath towel”, but even he has noticed that politics has descended into nothing more than power sharing between two rival gangs. Things get worse after the re-election of Hollande as President in 2017. “The widening gap”, François observes, “between the people and those who claimed to speak for them, the politicians and journalists, would necessarily lead to something chaotic, violent and unpredictable”. France is steadily drifting towards civil war.

And so, as the presidential election of 2022 approaches, Marine Le Pen’s Front National and the fictional Muslim Brotherhood find themselves neck-and-neck in the polls, with violence escalating between rogue jihadists and far-right militants. To “clearly audible laughter”, the President stands on the steps of the Élysée Palace and calls for the restoration of republican order, but by then the fighting has really started. Watching the TV, François records, “You could make out groups of masked men roaming around with assault rifles and automatic weapons. Windows had been broken, here and there cars were on fire”.

Beaten into third place, the Socialists do a deal with the Muslim Brotherhood — “a broad republican front” to keep Marine Le Pen out of power — with the result that Mohammed Ben Abbas, leader of the Brotherhood, becomes President and the “utter moron” François Bayrou, the very embodiment of today’s vacuous and careerist politicians, finds himself as Prime Minister. The crisis is over.

The son of a grocer, Ben Abbas is portrayed as a shrewd politician eager to extend his vote beyond strictly observant Muslims. He pursues a moderate line and maintains good relations with the Jewish religious authorities. But changes are not slow in coming. François notices that certain shops close (although not those selling sexy lingerie) and that women now wear trousers. “The contemplation of women’s arses,” François observes, “has also become impossible.” Sharia law is imposed almost without protest. Unemployment is dramatically reduced by encouraging women to work at home in exchange for large financial payments. Education is privatised, with mandatory education ended at the age of 12. Vocational training is encouraged.  Subsidies to big companies are stopped and small businesses receive funding. Crime is dramatically reduced, especially in what had previously been the most troubled neighbourhoods. Ben Abbas also pushes for the EU to incorporate Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, to widespread approval restoring the prominence of the French language in Europe’s political institutions. As one of the novel’s characters observes, the real enemy of the Muslim Brotherhood is not Catholicism but secularism, laicism and atheist materialism. By now Myriam and her family have emigrated to Israel.