Le Cimetière Miséricorde, Hauts-Pavés–Saint-Félix, Nantes (44): #8 Topette and Carafon

It seems that the sisters Topette and Carafon – street musicians (with a violin) in Nantes during the 1920s, and from an upper middle-class family from which they rebelled – are spiritually linked to the Amadou sisters in Nantes in the mid-nineteenth century. The Amadou sisters called themselves Coquette et Papillon and used a guitar, and after a cab accident Coquette became handicapped and for a time Papillon took her around on a soapbox on wheels: they died in oblivion. The story goes that Topette and Carafon were named in memory of the former sisters. When Carafon died Topette shut her in a cupboard, and it was only because neighbours were alarmed by the smell that the police were called, much to the fury of Topette, whose mentality was in a very poor state.