• 13th novel by an established author.
• An atmosphere that is at once intimate, social, and historical.
• An impressionistic, accurate, sober, and delicate writing style for a universal story.

A family story which mirrors that of an entire generation.

She is a student in the 1960s who, unwittingly, will abandon this important aspect of her life, her brilliance and intellect, to fulfill her role as a wife and mother as best as she can. Her husband's time is fully consumed by his work as a scientist totally driven by his research and who becomes part of a large oil company involved in a scandal that made headlines at the time, The Oil Sniffer Aircraft Hoax

This woman fights with the means at her disposal, caught up in a system against which, given the sociological context of the time, she is powerless.

Still, she tries to resist, to untie her apron, using small daily weapons. It is this muted underground struggle, seemingly doomed to failure, that Françoise Henry reveals in this novel, searching for what may have been going on soundlessly inside her. Work inside the home—for women—and work outside the home—for men. She, in the unrecognized work of the home, will gradulally experience over time the betrayal of a part of her body—her hands, accustomed to serving—and then, more profoundly, that of her mind.

The two main characters are the narrator's (as well as the author's) parents. They are also the image of a couple from the 1960s—and perhaps even of today, in a way that is often less apparent but just as real.

Writer and actress Françoise Henry has published a dozen novels (Calmann-Levy, Pauvert, Grasset, and Gallimard), including Journée d'anniversaire (Cino del Duca Prize, Comtois Prize), Le Rêve de Martin (finalist for the Fémina Prize, M. Audoux Prize), and Juste avant l'hiver (Ch. Exbrayat Prize, Fondation Ch. Oulmont Prize, Ambronay Prize).

She has published Loin du soleil and N'oubliez pas Marcelle with Éditions du Rocher, both of which have been praised by critics.