Marie Nimier: La Reine du silence (2004)

Marie Nimier's story of her search for her father is in effect a search for herself too. Prominent writer Roger Nimier died in an Aston Martin in 1962. It is quite possible that the beautiful Sunsiaré de Larcône, who also died in the crash and had just published her first novel, was driving the car. La Reine du silence strives to pull together the various and many pieces of a jigsaw in an attempt to discover the mystery of Marie's father, who died when she was only five.

Marie Nimier tries to draw on the obviously very limited memories that she has of her father, makes investigations, questions people who knew him, makes many digressions and speculations, but gradually – through the various snippets of information that she finds – she arrives at truths that are far from comforting.

Along the way we learn of her paternal grandfather Paul Nimier being an engineer who devised the first talking clock, of her paternal grandmother Christiane Roussel being a violinist before her marriage. We also learn that, after several failed tests, Marie eventually gained a full driving licence. We never learn why, at twenty-five, she jumped into the Seine in a suicide attempt, but then she doesn't know either.

Roger Nimier was a heavy drinker and sometimes did things that are very odd and disturbing, such as holding a gun to her slightly older brother's head, or stubbing out a cigarette in the plastic yoke of the egg in Marie children's tea set. There were rows with his wife, whom he once grabbed round the throat, and they were getting divorced at the time of his death.

The worse blow for Marie, though, is when she sees some of her father's possessions being auctioned. After seeing a letter he's written using a pseudonym and pretending to be a manufacturer of dildos, she reads this about herself at the end of another letter:

'By the way, Nadine had a daughter yesterday.

I immediately went to drown her in the Seine so as not to hear her anymore.

See you soon, I hope.

                                    Roger Nimier'

In a postcard once, Roger wrote to Marie: 'WHAT DOES THE QUEEN OF SILENCE SAY?'

Of course, if the 'queen of silence' says anything, she'll no longer be the queen of silence. So Marie Nimier chooses to write.

An amazing book.

My Marie Nimier posts:
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Marie Nimier: La Reine du silence
Marie Nimier: La Girafe | The Giraffe