Marie Claire

A child's view of family sorrow opens Marie Claire, as the narrator watches visitors gather around her mother's bedside and spends her days with a neighbour. Her older sister brings home small creatures from the fields, turning ordinary play into a source of fear. Marguerite Audoux tells these memories in the first person, using the things a child notices to convey feelings she can barely explain.

The account later moves into farm life, where tending sheep means facing winter weather and the dangers of the nearby forest. Snow alters familiar landmarks, hungry birds crowd the buildings, and a wolf suddenly breaks into the flock. These closely observed scenes give rural work its physical weight and uncertainty. Presented in English by John N. Raphael, the book draws on Audoux's youthful recollections, as Arnold Bennett's introduction explains. Readers interested in remembered childhood and daily country life will find both in its direct, sensory prose.