Suite Francaise

Hubert is one of many young boys who, by June 17, have run off to join the troops. There is little for him to do on the road with the army, and he experiences boredom. When the fighting begins, he has no weapon, and seeing how ill-equipped the French side is, he despairs of dying and never seeing his mother again. Running away, fearful of encountering Germans, he finds shelter in Moulins. There he encounters Arlette Corail, who has left Corbin. She flirts with Hubert and then finds him a bed in the hotel.

The village in which the hotel is located is on tenterhooks as it waits for the Germans to arrive. Arlette is pleased with herself for having left Corbin in Tours and taken his car, particularly now that she has found this village with its good food and met the attractive young Péricand.

As the Germans approach, Hubert feels as though he wants to cry. Arlette caresses him and promises better times. She tells him not to cry because he is a man and insinuates that she is aware of his needs. When he says nothing, she calls him “love” (97).

This chapter begins with Albert the cat’s exploration of the nursery the Péricands are staying in on the road, and then the world outside. After a successful bird-hunting adventure, the cat hears the sound of explosions.

The village where the Péricands are staying catches fire. Madame Péricand salvages her jewelry, her three youngest children, and their nanny, and she finds a car that will take them to Nîmes. Although she was initially bewildered at Hubert’s escape to the army, she is proud of him for his heroism. As they are about to head off, she realizes that she has forgotten her father-in-law, the elder Monsieur Péricand.

On the road with all his precious possessions, Charles Langelet looks down on the lower-class refugees he encounters and refuses to feel solidarity with them. But the reverse is also true: When he is about to run out of petrol, no one will sell theirs to him. Managing to drive into a forest, he encounters a driver and his fiancée and persuades them to sleep on the grass while he watches their car—a pretext for stealing their petrol. As he sets off, he experiences a malicious glee at his newfound predatoriness.

The forgotten elder Monsieur Péricand is rescued from the fire and placed in a nursing home run by nuns. Feeling that his death is near, he imagines his funeral and, turning his thoughts to his legacy, makes his will in front of a nun named Maître Charboeuf. He bequeaths his worldly goods to his son, with the explicit instruction to give five million francs to the orphanage of the Penitent Children, which should commission a life-size portrait or bust of him on his deathbed and place it in the entrance hall. When Monsieur Péricand dies, Maître Charboeuf writes that he made his will in the presence of two witnesses.

Jean-Marie is recovering well in the strangers’ house in Bussy and observes that he is surrounded by memorabilia of the Great War of 1914-1918. He is tended to by the mistress of the house and two eager young women, Cécile, the family’s biological daughter, and Madeleine, who is adopted. He tells Madeleine he was a student before the war and that he wanted to write books. Jean-Marie begins to wonder about Madeleine’s background and her wish to become a nun as a distraction from thinking about himself and the war. He reaches out and kisses her, and she blushes.

Philippe Péricand continues the journey on foot with the boys from the orphanage. He tries to do his duty and engage them in conversation but really wants to be rid of them as soon as possible. He feels that he will fail in his mission to bring God’s grace to these unfortunate souls. They come across a village that has been completely abandoned by its inhabitants, and he suggests that they camp in a meadow by a lake. When the children go to sleep, he is overcome with pity for their frailty and finds love entering his heart. Then he sees two of the boys approach the chateau and smash a window to enter it. When Philippe enters the chateau, the boys attack him. The boys destroy the chateau and team together to push the priest out of the window and toss him into the lake, where they throw stones at him. He dies by becoming trapped in the mud, with one of his eyes gouged out.

Over in Nîmes, Madame Péricand is attending a Mass for the deaths of the old Monsieur Péricand and Philippe. She can hardly believe the cause of Philippe’s death and, since the orphans have also disappeared, she takes the position that an overturned truck is the cause of all their deaths. Certain that Philippe is in heaven now, she experiences turmoil thinking of Hubert, who she suspects has died a hero fighting for France.

However, Hubert turns up in Nîmes. When he learns about the two deaths in the family, he is indifferent about his grandfather and sad about Philippe, though he feels that his otherworldly brother probably wants to be with God. Hubert feels like his experiences away from his family have changed him, but they view him as chubby-cheeked and unchanged.

Gabriel and Florence are at the Grand Hotel, where refugees are abundant, but so are cocktails. He is the 14th celebrity to arrive at the hotel. Still traumatized by what she witnessed on the bridge, Florence laments her disheveled appearance. Downstairs, desperate people are begging for rooms at the hotel. However, the staff reserve the place for celebrities and politicians. The chapter ends with a playwright and Gabriel discussing “their own work, without a thought for the rest of the world” (156).

En route to Tours, the Michauds have had to change plans: A bomb has destroyed the railway line, and German troops have told them to go back the way they came. Back in Paris, they find that everything exactly as it was. While they are at their old hairdresser’s, they receive the news that the armistice has been signed and that France has surrendered to Germany. They return to their intact apartment and wonder if Jean-Marie has been taken prisoner.

Meanwhile, the Corbins have separated. Madame Corbin has found a photograph of Arlette wearing a “magnificent necklace” (164) but otherwise nude in Corbin’s bag and found the necklace more offensive than the nudity, even after Corbin dismissed it as costume jewelry. Corbin is now back in Paris, while Madame Corbin is in the free zone. He has lost touch with Arlette, and a rumor reaches him that she keeps the company of German officers. The Michauds demand payment, which infuriates Monsieur Corbin, who writes Michaud a letter declaring that he has been remiss in his duties as an employee and that he considers his failure to get in touch as a sign of his resignation. He adds that the fact that the resignation was without notice means that he is not obliged to pay him for his work at all.

The Michauds despair at Corbin’s letter and the prospect of finding another job in the current climate. They come to the end of their savings in late July. Jeanne longs for Jean-Marie’s protection and the thought that he might be able to help them, though she feels that he could be dead. She laments that every time the country faces a crisis, it is lower-middle-class people like them who bear the brunt. She considers that their misery is due less to the war itself and more to the role played by people like Corbin. Jeanne goes to find Corbin’s aristocratic business partner, Furières, who has always liked her and hated Corbin. He agrees to pay the Michauds the compensation of six months’ salary each.

Charles Langelet arrives in Paris in autumn and unpacks all his precious treasures. He believes that he will resume his old life, replete with the luxuries of a concierge, restaurants, and art, even during the Occupation. As he leaves to go to a restaurant, he does not bother with a torch and falls into the road. He dies when a woman runs him over. The woman is none other than Arlette Corail, back from Bordeaux. She is briefly remorseful but thinks that someone influential will get her out of trouble.

Jean Marie is waiting out his convalescence in Bussy, which, though in the Occupied zone, feels apart from the war and well provided with food. He finds that the older men who fought in the First World War blame France’s humiliation on the fact that the new generation are not as strong as them. Jean-Marie begins to write little stories about farm life.

The postal service returns to the village, and he catches up with Madeleine and tells her that while he has been happy, he ought to return to his parents. Madeleine says she cannot bear the thought of him leaving. He kisses her, and she confesses that she is no longer certain she wants to become a nun. She says that if Benoît, the son of the house, returns, she might consider marrying him. Jean-Marie is shocked, as he never suspected she had any such attachment. He soon intends to head off to Paris and reunite with his parents.

Later, Madeleine is reunited with Benoît, who escaped the Germans. She pretends that nothing new has happened since his absence.

The winter of 1940-1941 is a fierce one. All the characters have returned to Paris and cross each other’s paths. Thus, as Madame Péricand in her mourning veil gets priority in a line for rations, she walks past the Michauds, who lean against each other to keep warm.

Meanwhile, Madeleine and Benoît have married in September and are expecting a baby. People feel that the war will go on and on.