Stephen was endlessly curious. He asked Isabelle to describe her early life in the smallest detail; he never seemed to tire of stories of her days in Rouen. ‘Tell me more about Jeanne.’ ‘I’ve told you everything I can think of. Now you tell me how you came to be in this place, this institution.’ Stephen exhaled slowly. ‘There’s not much to tell. My father worked for the post office in a flat part of England called Lincolnshire.
