Maurice Roche was born in Clermont-Ferrand, France, in 1925, and worked variously as a journalist, composer, critic, and race-car driver before turning to writing with a critical study of Monteverdi.

Compact, his first novel, as well as his first book to appear in English, was published in 1966, and has since come to be considered a classic of post-New Novel fiction. Roche's other novels include Circus, CodeX, and Camar(a)de.