The Book of Goose

The year is 1966. The narrator, Agnès, finds labels arbitrary. Rather, she wants the reader to remember Fabienne. Agnès is famous and living in America, so communication from her mother in France is no longer about pressuring her to become a mother. Agnès’s mother informs her of former friend Fabienne’s death by childbirth at 27. This makes Agnès want to give birth to a baby healthily so she can do something Fabienne couldn’t. However, her husband Earl is unable to have children, and she doesn’t want to leave him or cheat on him. She is from Saint Rémy, France, but she now lives in the Pennsylvania countryside with Earl, where she raises geese. Fabienne’s death inspires Agnès to write again.

The year is 1952. Agnès and Fabienne are 13, and Fabienne asks her how to grow happiness. Growing up after World War II is difficult for them, so they instead debate which crops would grow happiness and which would grow misery. Fabienne calls Agnès an “idiot.”

Agnès believes happiness should be like Monsieur Devaux’s pigeons, flying away and flying back. Devaux is a man in his sixties who works as the village postmaster. When his wife dies, Agnès can’t attend the funeral because she has school and Fabienne can’t attend because she has work in the fields. The girls visit Madame Devaux’s grave later, bringing flowers in case any adult asks what they’re up to. Their plans are instinctual because “Back then we often knew what we were doing without having to talk things over between ourselves. But was it such a surprise? We were almost one person” (17). A gifted storyteller, Fabienne comes up with another plan for them: writing a book with Devaux’s help. She wants to write a book with Agnès because Agnès has good penmanship.

Adult Agnès worries her story about Fabienne is past its expiration date, corrupted by time.

As children, Agnès is a more polite student than Fabienne, but Fabienne has an intelligence and a toughness that are intimidating. The girls go to Devaux’s house uninvited on the night of his wife’s funeral. Fabienne knocks on the door until Devaux answers. Fabienne tells him that they have a secret to share.

Fabienne tells Devaux that she and Agnès are writing a book, and they need his help. Devaux says the girls are not the type to write books, but Fabienne insists. He agrees to read Agnès’s work thus far. Fabienne later explains to Agnès that she chose Devaux because he’s sad, and sad people need a distraction.

Fabienne explains to Agnès that she wants to write a book so other people will know how she and Agnès live. Agnès decides to spend the day with Fabienne so they can start their book. Agnès’s parents don’t mind her being gone because they are taking care of Agnès’s brother Jean, who is dying from the physical toll of his imprisonment in a German labor camp years ago. Fabienne tells a story while Agnès writes it.

Agnès and Fabienne bring their first story to Devaux, and he reads it. He and Fabienne then discuss the difference between animals and humans. He insists his pigeons are intelligent, but Fabienne, trying to be cruel, points out they could fly away for good. Agnès recognizes this cruelty, as Fabienne pushed her into a cold river once.

Agnès and Fabienne write eight stories about eight dead children. Devaux reads and edits their stories, calling them macabre. He doesn’t act like it, but enjoys their visits. His neighbors note the girls’ visits, and he says he’s tutoring them. When Fabienne suggests he tell the neighbors that he lures them with food, Devaux is embarrassed and insists he appreciates their intellect. Agnès envies how Fabienne and Devaux communicate, with quick wit and shared interests.

Agnès and Devaux edit second drafts, while Fabienne plans a second book. Devaux encourages the girls to read his philosophy and poetry books, but Fabienne mocks his superiority.

Agnès’s childhood in France was marked by poverty. As an adult, when American fans meet her and ask about France, she knows they don’t want to hear about the real France of her childhood. A young Agnès and Fabienne’s first book is Les Enfants Heureux (The Happy Children), a morbid title considering the book is about dead children. When this book is later published and becomes famous, people wonder why Agnès wrote it. Her readers don’t know that Fabienne, the true storyteller, did things for the sake of doing them.

Devaux arranges a trip to Paris for himself and Agnès so they can meet with publishers. Fabienne doesn’t want to go because the book will only credit Agnès as the author, and she doesn’t want to confuse people. Agnès’s brother Jean is worried that she won’t come back from Paris, as he associates trains with German imprisonment. On the way to Paris, Devaux coaches Agnès on how to act with the publishers. He says she shouldn’t talk much so the publishers see her as a simple country girl with a natural intuition for storytelling.

One of the publishers, Monsieur Perret, doesn’t believe that a young girl could have written such a book on her own. He has Agnès write a paragraph in front of him so he can verify her authorship. She writes a beautiful paragraph, influenced by a story Fabienne told her.

Jean continues his slow journey to death. Agnès’s older sisters, who are married with children of their own, try to visit as much as they can. Agnès and Fabienne start writing a new book about a postman, a young and handsome one. They continue to visit Devaux, and Agnès continues to be jealous of Fabienne and Devaux’s friendship. She doesn’t care about Devaux, but Fabienne likes spending time with him so she can learn about the outside world.

The publishers Monsieur Perret and Monsieur Chastain visit Saint Rémy. They want to publish Agnès’s book and bring her to Paris for a press tour. Her parents, though intimidated by the guests, agree to let her go.

Fabienne is pleased that her and Agnès’s book will be published but refuses credit as a co-author. Despite being curious about the outside world, she wants Agnès to go to Paris alone. She says Agnès has the face of a genius, a face that attracts people, including men like her own brothers and Devaux.

Adult Agnès imagines having a conversation with Fabienne’s ghost. They talk about happiness, with Agnès defining it as spending “every day without craning one’s neck to look forward to tomorrow, next month, next year, and without holding out one’s hands to stop every day from becoming yesterday” (82-83). The summer before Agnès and Fabienne’s book is published, in 1953, is happy; they spend time writing their second book. They give Devaux the first half of their new book to read.

Agnès goes to Paris without Devaux for her first round of press. Reporters ask if her book is true, struck by the juxtaposition between her polite demeanor and the morbidity of her book.

Part of the appeal of Agnès’s book is its shocking details of her life in the French countryside after World War II. For her, all stories are true and all truths are true in their own way.

Chastain’s assistant, Mademoiselle Boverat, prepares Agnès for more press. She explains to Agnès that well-known photographer Monsieur Bazin will photograph her in her village. She buys Agnès new clothes and barrettes, and then takes her on a tour of Paris.

Agnès writes Fabienne a letter from her hotel room in Paris. She wants to mail it but worries that Devaux will intercept it.

Bazin takes photographs of Agnès, and she enjoys the photoshoot.

Agnès doesn’t know what she wants from the publication process and press, so she simply enjoys her time with Boverat.

To Agnès, childhood friendships are inexplicable, pure, and more profound than adult types of love. She could question why Fabienne stole her heart, but she figures this line of questioning is pointless.

Agnès goes to Paris for two days for press. When she returns to her village, she finds out Jean is dead. Still, she meets with Fabienne to show off her new clothes. Fabienne declares she knows what it means to not be a “virgin,” but refuses to elaborate. She reveals Devaux asked her to be his lover, and Agnès is disgusted. Fabienne contemplates being his lover despite their age gap and her lack of attraction. She figures Devaux would ask any young girl to be his lover, but he asked her because he knows her father doesn’t care enough to intervene. Agnès proposes that she and Fabienne run away to Paris together. However, Fabienne is concerned that Devaux will reveal her as the true storyteller. To her, the only way to keep him quiet would be for him to die.