Chapter 4

In June 1940, Isabelle Rossig­nol is sent to a fin­ish­ing school in a medieval vil­la, run by the strict Madame Dufour, where she imme­di­ate­ly feels out of place. The sti­fling, for­mal atmos­phere only exac­er­bates her rebel­lious nature. Dur­ing a for­mal din­ner, Isabelle’s dis­com­fort with the rigid customs—exemplified by the task of peel­ing an orange with utensils—reaches a break­ing point. Her fail­ure to adhere to these expec­ta­tions leads to her expul­sion, a moment that reflects her long his­to­ry of being cast out from var­i­ous insti­tu­tions due to her spir­it­ed, unyield­ing char­ac­ter.

After her expul­sion, Isabelle returns to Paris, a city on the brink of war, to her dis­tant father, Christophe. He man­ages a book­store and appears bur­dened by the weight of both per­son­al his­to­ry and the mount­ing chaos of the war. Isabelle, keen­ly aware of the war’s approach and the threat posed by the advanc­ing Ger­man forces, tries to sug­gest ways she can con­tribute to the war effort. How­ev­er, her father dis­miss­es her, reflect­ing the gen­der norms and expec­ta­tions of the time that lim­it her agency.

The peace­ful facade of dai­ly life in Paris is soon shat­tered as Ger­man planes approach the city, and the first bombs fall, sig­nal­ing the rapid esca­la­tion of the con­flict. The city, once calm, is now filled with fear and con­fu­sion. Isabelle and her father expe­ri­ence the shift first­hand as they take refuge with their neigh­bors in a cel­lar, the loud sounds of the bomb­ings above mark­ing the end of their pre­vi­ous lives. This stark change from Isabelle’s per­son­al strug­gles against soci­etal norms to the all-encom­pass­ing vio­lence of war high­lights the trans­for­ma­tion of her world—and fore­shad­ows her poten­tial role in the fight against the Ger­man occu­pa­tion.

The chap­ter ends with a sense of uncer­tain­ty and dread as Isabelle and her father, trapped in the cel­lar, watch their world change irrepara­bly, set­ting the stage for the choic­es Isabelle will make as the war unfolds. Her defi­ant spir­it seems to sig­nal the larg­er role she might soon play in the resis­tance, though the path ahead remains fraught with dan­ger and ambi­gu­i­ty.