The Women of Chateau Lafayette

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the source text’s depiction of alcohol addiction and suicidal ideation as well as its references to the antisemitic beliefs and sentiments of Nazi ideology during World War II.

Marthe attends the Lafayette Memorial Foundation’s art exhibition and hopes that her sculpture La Femme Lafayette will win her a scholarship that will allow her to live outside of Chavaniac castle, the only home she has ever known. Many of the attendees nervously speak about Hitler’s impending war on Europe. When she finds out that she did not win, Marthe promptly gets drunk. Her childhood friend and occasional lover Henri Piton finds her and tries to console her. He drops to one knee and proposes, but Marthe hesitates and asks for more time, which Henri grants. By September, Hitler has invaded Poland, France has declared war, and Henri is conscripted. At the train station, Marthe agrees to his proposal, regretting her initial hesitation. He gives her his mother’s ring, and they share a kiss before Henri and their mutual friend Sam depart to the front on a train.