Les Innocents

by Georges Simenon

in12. Broché.

Genres: Fiction, Noir, France

160 pages, Pocket Book

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (1903 – 1989) was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known as the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret.
Although he never resided in Belgium after 1922, he remained a Belgian citizen throughout his life.

Simenon was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, capable of writing 60 to 80 pages per day. His oeuvre includes nearly 200 novels, over 150 novellas, several autobiographical works, numerous articles, and scores of pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms. Altogether, about 550 million copies of his works have been printed.

He is best known, however, for his 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Commissaire Maigret. The first novel in the series, Pietr-le-Letton, appeared in 1931; the last one, Maigret et M. Charles, was published in 1972. The Maigret novels were translated into all major languages and several of them were turned into films and radio plays. Two television series (1960-63 and 1992-93) have been made in Great Britain.

During his "American" period, Simenon reached the height of his creative powers, and several novels of those years were inspired by the context in which they were written (Trois chambres à Manhattan (1946), Maigret à New York (1947), Maigret se fâche (1947)).

Simenon also wrote a large number of "psychological novels", such as La neige était sale (1948) or Le fils (1957), as well as several autobiographical works, in particular Je me souviens (1945), Pedigree (1948), Mémoires intimes (1981).

In 1966, Simenon was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.

In 2005 he was nominated for the title of De Grootste Belg (The Greatest Belgian). In the Flemish version he ended 77th place. In the Walloon version he ended 10th place.

Reviews

[Jim Fonseca · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story begins with the accidental death of a man’s wife. They had been married for 20 years and had a child. But both are in love with their work: he’s a jewelry designer and she is a social worker. They have a maid and a nanny and the wife lives a life of disengagement from her family. In fact they are both disengaged, even from each other. We are told the wife is “fond” of her husband and child but she and her husband have never had a single heart to heart talk in their entire married life. Still, the husband is happy with the marriage.

You don’t have to be Sherlock to figure out early what is going on in this family. But the genius of Simenon weaves a tale with a lot of dialog that still manages to surprise us. In the end he makes us believe that it is possible to be married to someone for 20 years and not have a clue.

[Phillip Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Innocents was first published as Les Innocents in 1972, and translated into English by Eileen Ellenbogen. This is the story of Georges Célerin, a peasant from the Caen district who has become a successful goldsmith in Paris and married the only woman he has ever loved. He was married for 20 years, and blissfully happy, in his work, with his family, with his lot. Then one day his wife Annette was killed by a truck. She was in a part of Paris where she normally didn’t go, and slipped on wet pavement crossing a busy road. Suddenly Georges’ blissful world was destroyed. True, the relationship was not perfect. Annette seemed unresponsive and uncommitted, involved in her job as a social worker rather than with her husband and two children. But Georges was content to accept things the way they were. Simenon created two perfectly believable characters, and outlined their history with deft and insightful detail. Trying desperately to pull himself together after the tragedy that has shattered his life, Georges began to follow the trail of his wife’s activities. He makes some unwelcome discoveries. He found that for 18 years she had led a second life as the mistress of his business partner Brassier. Here was the reason for Annette’s lack of commitment. She and Brassier were deeply in love, yet neither was free to leave their spouse. Instead they led a secret life. Georges was devastated all over again, and struggled to retrieve what he could after this revelation. He began to appreciate the close bond he had with his children, and with his colleagues. Simenon is successful here in creating that rare thing in fiction, a believable good person. It is just because Georges accepts so gratefully what he is given by life that he is liked by those who know him, who think him simple and unpretentious despite all his success in his career. Yet this same acceptance has prevented Georges from seeing the real situation in his marriage. This is a tragedy written with tremendous feeling and great artistry, one of Simenon’s best novels. It was his last.

[Anselmo Boschi]

Há dezesseis anos, Georges Célerin está associado a seu amigo Brassier em uma joalheria: o primeiro projeta joias e dirige a oficina, o segundo lida com pedidos e vendas. Célerin vive em perfeita harmonia com sua esposa Annette, seus dois filhos e seus colaboradores. Um acidente estúpido mudará o destino desse homem feliz: Annette, que trabalha como assistente social no distrito da Bastilha, é esmagada por um caminhão que atravessa a Washington Street, em um bairro onde, aparentemente, ela não tinha nada fazer. Após esse golpe terrível, Celerin não é mais o mesmo homem. Seguindo os passos dos mortos, ele tenta descobrir o que aconteceu. Sua investigação diz que Annette estava saindo de um prédio onde um apartamento, alugado em nome de Jean-Paul Brassier, abrigava seus compromissos três vezes por semana, e isso por dezoito anos. Tudo o que resta para Célerin é pedir a Brassier a dolorosa entrevista que porá um fim, digno, às suas relações

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick enjoyable read, but upon reflection, a curious book to enjoy. Raucously happy, it is not. A widower spends the better part of 160 pages reflecting as to whether his recently deceased wife was ever truly happy. Meanwhile, a fairly obvious truth slowly rears its head. In the hands of a lesser author, it would be a lesser tale, but Simenon again somehow manages to make the day in/day out lulling and hypnotic. The final confrontaton, for lack of a better word, felt a little bizarre to me, but I did like the very muted suggestion of future happiness in the form of another as the book came to a close.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

George Celerin is a skilled goldsmith with a workshop in Paris. He and his partner have created a high end jewelry business. On a rainy day a policeman comes to the shop to inform him that his wife of 20 years had slipped on the wet pavement, fallen under a truck, and was killled. He had loved her, and felt himself happily married, although his wife would seem distant. Why she had been in that part of town continued to weigh on him. His investigation leads to a surprising answer, one that brings a big change in his life.

[NoID · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dernier des romans durs de Simenon, « les innocents » est paru en 1972. Et c’est un très bon Simenon ! Alors, certes, la fin s’annonce aussi évidement que le camion du début. Pas vraiment de suspense ici. Mais comme souvent dans ses livres, c’est par sa connaissance de l’âme humaine et son talent à la décrire que Simenon impressionne.

Un homme perd sa femme brutalement, shootée par un camion. Son monde s’écroule.

Et ce n’est pas fini

https://www.noid.ch/les-innocents/

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

ok.. I didn't read it - I saw the excellent tv show from the georges Simenon mysteries. It's about a man whose wife is killed in the 1st moments of the book and husband spends the rest of the story finding out about her- how she did not love him, but loved his best friend and kept trysts with him for 20 years. Sad, bleary stuff....

[Charles Dee Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A happy man discovers his life has been built on lies.

George Simenon doing what he does best.

[Mary Ronan Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Georges Simenon is an interesting man, author of some 200 novels and thousands of short stories and journalism pieces, he was not French as is commonly thought, but Belgian. Born in 1903, he lay low during World War II and was accused afterwards of being a collaborator, based on contracts with German film companies before the war for adaptations of his books. Widely travelled, a friend of Andre Gide, he lived in a menage a trois for many years and was the lover of many women, including Josephine Baker.

This worldliness is reflected in his books, both the popular fiction, including the many Inspector Maigret mysteries and his "romans durs" or "hard novels," which he considered serious fiction. The Innocents is one of the latter, a story about a talented jeweler, perhaps the best jeweler in Paris, who lives with his beloved wife for 20 years without really knowing her. He discovers her secret life when she dies in an auto accident.

2012 No 3

[Fredsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

More heartbreak from Simenon. This story relates the life of a brilliant jeweler and the accidental death of his beloved wife. The studio/workshop where he works and directs the work of his fellow jewelers is beautifully rendered, so much so that I want to work there myself. Possibly this explains my enthusiasm, but still... With the death of his wife, our hero Celerin suffers the fate of growing up, at last, in middle age. When he learns of her infidelity his happiness is debased. In effect, he loses his wife twice.

[Eugene · Rating 4 out of 5]

picked off the library shelf in passing. just like that. hardcover, no description, just the title. which was enough, and turned out true.

little breadbites of prose to take you through twenty years of a couple's life. fast and flickering like the proverbial dream before death. quick, perfect scenes. beautifully sentimental and bittersweet. a few overly determining plot points, despite being lynchpins of the story, really don't get in the way. best to just gently sidestep them as they come barreling by.

[Mikee · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly moving book. Georges Céleron is a master goldsmith, happy with his work and his position in life, and deeply in love with his wife of 20 years. She gets run over and killed crossing the street, leaving an unfillable hole. His kids are on the cusp of leaving home and he knows he will have to create a future. Then a chance remark from a policeman changes EVERYTHING. Sad and profound.

[Dvora Treisman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the terse writing style.