Little Jewel

Nobel Prize winner Modiano here retains the ineffable sense of mystery pervading all his fiction but does something different; uniquely in his oeuvre, he offers a female protagonist, which lends perhaps a greater sense of intimacy to the narrative. On the metro, 19-year-old Thérèse spots a woman in a threadbare yellow coat she's convinced is her mother, who supposedly died in Morocco years ago after abruptly abandoning Thérèse to friends. Thérèse follows the woman home but doesn't speak, instead returning to question the concierge and reflecting on keepsakes stored in a tin box. She claims not to have thought about her childhood until this encounter, but it's evident how deeply she's been hurt, which we see mirrored by her babysitting charge, whose parents are mysteriously detached. Thérèse's mother might have called her Little Jewel, but this young woman is decidedly chipped and tarnished.