The Girl at the Lion d'Or
by Sebastian Faulks
List Price: $12.00
Pages: 246
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0312209096
Publisher: Vintage Books
From the author of the international bestseller Birdsong, comes a haunting
historical novel of passion, loss, and courage set in France between the
two world wars. This Vintage Original edition marks its first appearance
in the United States.
On a rainy night in
the 1930s, Anne Louvet appears at the run-down Hotel du Lion d'Or in the
village of Janvilliers. She is seeking a job and a new life, one far removed
from the awful injustices of her past. As Anne embarks on a torrential
love affair with a married veteran of the Great War, The Girl at the Lion
d'Or fashions an unbreakable spell of narrative and atmosphere that evokes
French masters from Flaubert to Renoir.
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1. How would you characterize the climate of inter-war France--the period historian Eugen Weber has called "The Hollow Years"--as described by Faulks? In what way was the period "hollow," and why? What elements of the defeatist, cynical France of the Occupation can you trace here, several years before World War II? In what ways are the Stavisky affair and the death of Roger Salengro indicative of the political atmosphere?
2. Hartmann is disturbed by Anne's life story, particularly the "unfairness of the persecution of the villagers" [p. 158]. Why did these villagers persecute Anne's family? Was it from pure meanness, or out of some unspoken fear or perceived threat? If Anne's hometown and her adopted town of Janvilliers are typical of provincial French life at this period, what are that life's drawbacks? What are its strengths?
3. How do Anne's political opinions [see p. 183] reflect those of the country in general, and how do those opinions account for the country's precarious state? What dangers do these opinions, when held by a large portion of the population, imply for France? What about Roland's opinions [pp. 190-92]? How deeply has he thought out his political ideas? Does he have any understanding of where such ideas will lead? Is he evil, or simply unintelligent and thoughtless?
4. What connections, if any, does the author draw between Roger Salengro and Anne's father?
5. Why does Hartmann turn away from Anne at the end? Is it from selfishness and cowardice or out of a sense of duty and a sort of love? What sort of future do you envision for Anne? What might become of her as France moves toward war?
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"I would urge those who appreciated--The French Lieutenant's Woman to try this one--. They may well think it superior. "
—Sunday Telegraph (London)
"This moving and profound novel is perfectly constructed, and admirable in its configurations of place and period. "
—The Times (London)
