Forgotten on Sunday
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Justine is 21 years old and has lived with her grandparents and cousin Jules since the death of her parents. She works as a carer at a retirement home and spends her days listening to her residents' stories. After bonding with Hélène, an almost 100-year-old resident, the two women slowly reveal their stories to one another. Whilst Justine helps Hélène to relive her memories of love and war, Hélène encourages Justine to confront the secrets of her own past, and the loss she has buried deep within. One day, trouble arrives in the form of a mysterious phone call that shakes the retirement home to its core and uncovers a shocking revelation. At once humorous and melancholic, Valérie Perrin's debut novel is a story of how the past can shape our present, and the scars of undeclared love.
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This is a real and achingly powerful book that will linger in you mind long after you close the book. Not only is this a beautifully written book, but it has been exquisitely translated from the original French by Hildegarde Serle. This book was a powerhouse of emotions that struck very close to home as a caregiver to my aging parents who has spend many hours in care homes and hospitals around the aged. The presence of the narrator throughout this book drew me into her story and showed, with such awareness of the value of life and the power of compassion and empathy, that life is to experienced in Life and In Storytelling. Told in a dual aspect style, Justine is trying to find her way through life as a 21 year old orphan who lives with her family and works in a care facility where she meets Helene, a 100 year old resident, and begins to follow the story of the older woman during the war. With the eye of a writer and her blue notebook to capture the stories she hears, Justine captures and shares with the reader Helene's story. This is a story told with all the bleakness and devastation of the war on the lives, bodies, and emotions of French, but it also shows the glimpses of love and hope and moments of joy that were found there as well.
To be honest, this book has left me thinking about the power of connection between us all and the need we have share our stories before they, like Helene, just fade away before our eyes almost without notice until we stop, ponder, seek out connection. With our individual story threads held fast in our own hands they are tenuous, precious, and isolated from support; however, once we bring those threads together and begin to plait and weave them together do those fragile threads become part of a collective, powerful and age defying story told via tapestry of our shared humanity. To remind us of what us good, rejoice in what is gifted. Mourn what is lost. And guide to reflect that all this IS what is to be human.
Haunting. Powerful. Compelling. Beautiful. Human. These are qualities of Perrin's story and Serle's translation that make this a book that will linger in my mind for a long time
Thank you Eeuropa Editions for an amazing international read that is a permanently on my shelves.