Forgotten on Sunday
France, 1919-2013. Twenty-one-year-old Justine works at The Hydrangeas, where she is a nursing assistant. Her favorite patient is Hélène, who is almost 100 years old. Hélène has led a fascinating life, and Justine records it for the elderly woman’s family. Hélène’s journey begins when she meets Lucien; together, they share a love that cannot be destroyed by war, separation, or time. When Lucien is arrested for harboring a Jew in occupied France and reportedly dies in a concentration camp, Hélène begins a years’ long search while serving village customers in the café she and Lucien own, refusing to give up hope she will see him again, her sole companion the stray dog abandoned by a German soldier.
Meanwhile, Justine, orphaned as a child and raised by her grandparents, confronts the secrets of her past while investigating the mysterious circumstances surrounding the car accident that killed her father and his twin brother and their wives. Also, someone is calling the families of The Hydrangea’s residents—relatives who never come to visit on Sunday—lying to them by telling them their loved one has died and they need to come to the home to take care of business. This, to force them into coming to visit. All of which has nothing to do with Justine herself.
Justine and Hélène’s threads are kept separate, with little interaction or emotional connection between the two women. Multiple viewpoints from other characters lead to a further feeling of disconnection. Throughout, Justine remains apart from the overall narrative and even from the man who adores her—an upstanding fellow she calls What’s-his-name. One wonders why he sticks by her, much as how I wondered why so many readers have embraced this book. This is Perrin’s first novel, published in France in 2015 and only now translated into English.
