Villa Amalia

by Pascal Quignard

Musician Ann Hidden suspects her partner, Thomas, isnt telling her everything. So one dark night, she secretly follows him to an unfamiliar house in the Paris suburbs, where he disappears inside with an unknown woman. But before she can even begin to process what looks like a betrayal, she gets another surprisean old schoolmate, Georges Roehlinger, appears, berating her for spying from the bushes. With Georgess help, Ann takes radical action: while Thomas is away, she resolves to secretly to sell their shared house and get rid of all the physical manifestations of their sixteen years together. Thomas returns to find her gone, the locks changed, and his few possessions packed up and sent to his office. Ann, meanwhile, has fled the country and started a new, hidden life. But our past is never that easy to escape, and Anns secrets eventually seek her out.