There are those novels that stay with you long after reading them. The girl with the braid is one of those.
Posted at 11:00 a.m.
Is it because it is a story of a luminous friendship, or even the context, set in the middle of the Second World War, or downright the outcome, as predictable as it is heartbreaking? A little of all of this at the same time. Nevertheless, the latest book by Françoise de Luca, finalist for the Anne-Hébert, Booksellers and Governor General awards (for pascal then Sena), manages to move us, several weeks after having turned the last page.
It must be said that it is a fiction, of course, but inspired by a true story: this friendship between a certain Lili (shy, awkward and, somehow, unloved) and her fabulous Solange (on the contrary brilliant , spontaneous, cultured, from an archi-inclusive and… Jewish family) truly existed. And largely inspired the novel (the famous Lili having confided, at almost 100 years old, to the author). Moreover, the first pages are reminiscent of another great literary friendship, just as powerful and “prodigious” (à la Elena Ferrante, you will have understood it), although here much less complex (!). Much more direct. Absolutely instantaneous.
“I liked her straight away. These are the first words of this girl with braid, written in “I”, therefore, a story that spans 300 pages, a real “page turner” as they say, less in terms of action than in emotions. With her direct style, short sentences and a steady rhythm, the author recounts here this poignant friendship, of a kind that you only experience once in a lifetime. She sets the table on more than half of the book (admittedly, at times, we wonder where all this will lead us) to tell its genesis, both sudden and overwhelming. Let’s say we have time to believe it. To get attached. Suddenly, we too, we love her immediately, this Solange, so endearing, rebellious and, above all, free.
The war only interferes in the story (too?) late in the second half of the novel, discreetly, although insidiously. Think: yellow star, anguish, then flight. And the unspeakable separation that follows. But despite everything, despite this war and this dirty occupation, our two friends continue to write to each other. To love each other. And to live.
And this Solange will lose none of her ardour. of his insubordination. True story: she joined the resistance, weaving hats (coquettery was a crime in occupied France, did you know that?), then turbans with a double bottom. Resistance to the feminine, what. “I feel free,” she wrote to her friend.
And thanks to this story, here she is coming back to life.
The girl with the braid
Francoise de Luca
Editions Merchant of sheets
300 pages