Used book – J'aurais dû épouser Marcel, Françoise Xenakis

Françoise Xenakis was born in 1930 in Sologne, the dark Sologne of ponds, mists, and spell-casters. When the time came, she delved into her fragmented memories and told the story of those strange women known in her village as the "white widows." Most of them were former girls from public assistance, who arrived one day in a rickety bus and were placed on farms. The boys became carters, the girls cowherds, and, as lost as each other, they often "shacked up." In 1914, the boys were conscripted, and almost none of them returned. They were not even declared fallen in battle, but rather missing. What to do with these young women left alone in the village? They were housed in a tiny development built for the occasion, and the Republic granted them a modest pension. In exchange, an unwritten law required them to observe absolute chastity, maintain the church, and care for abandoned graves. These old maids never stopped fantasizing about their men's return. In these stories, we find Françoise Xenakis's exuberance, humor, audacity, and her immense tenderness for the losers.

Anne Carrière

9782843374692