Laurent was born in Auvergne, in an out-of-the-way village. He still lives there, with his mother. One summer, he meets and falls in love with Marlene, who isn’t from around there. They set up housekeeping in an isolated house a way from the village. Several months of peaceful happiness ensue… until Marlene leaves.
She is austere and magnificent. She crushes beings and their desires.
Contrasts and oppositions make up the plot of this novel: the narrator’s voice (the internal voice) vs. the neighbors’ and relatives’ voice (external voice). Life up there (Marlene’s, and Laurent’s), in peace, silence and solitude, vs. life down there, with its hustle and bustle, lack of privacy, and rumors. Life up there, where people understand each other without speaking, and life down there, where people speak without understanding each other. Other people’s lives (conformist, expected, needy) as opposed to the freedom of the heroes (Laurent and Marlene), who are willing to risk their lives for true sentiments. Marlene’s insolent, off-beat beauty and her silence, as opposed to the tired heavy fatigue of the women-with-children and the gossip that buzzes around them. The distrust at the heart of couples in the village (you can’t do anything that isn’t done) as opposed to the quiet confidence of Laurent — who refuses to fight to keep Marlene.

There is a great parsimony of words throughout this text. The style contains emotions and suffering. The delicacy and sensibility of its expression, and the intensity of what is unsaid, make the tale of this crisis powerfully moving.