This novel opens on a forge, with a “concerto for anvils and hammers”. The forge master is the narrator’s father, a powerful god for his young son. The 5-year old kid grew in the provinces, in the '50s. On one side, a man’s world, made of fire and iron, of cranks and steam – the family lives near the steam engine depot. On the other side, women cooking, doing the laundry, taking care of the children, a simple life that the post-war economic boom and the consumer society will wipe out for ever. For the dazzled eyes of a kid who sees all that for the first time, the universe looks like moved by magic forces. A family tragedy will happen and change the course of the world, the young brother dies, and everyone will have to deal with an impossible mourning. 

 

Guy Boley has had all kinds of jobs before he writing his first novel.
Beautifully written.

 

 

 

 

La Cheffe, roman d’une cuisinière, Gallimard