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''The Girl at the Lion d'Or'' by Sebastian Faulks, was the author's second novel. Set in the tiny French village of Janvilliers in 1936. Together with ''Birdsong'' and ''Charlotte Gray'', it makes up Faulks' ''France Trilogy''. The character ''Charles Hartmann'' is common to all three books. ==Plot introduction== An unsigned prologue introduces the reader to 1930s France and sets-up the fiction that the novel tells the true story behind an actual newspaper report of the time. This is imagined as being a passionate adulterous love-affair between the book's two central characters with the nation's unstable political scene as its backdrop. The politics are rendered to us through the characters' every day conversation- they rely on newspapers for information- which means that the ''history lesson'' aspect of the book arises organically in the narrative. Written in the third person using a conventional omniscient narrator the internal motivations and viewpoints of various characters are aired. The narrative tone is at times ironic and the author uses unfussy language in telling the tale with economy. The vast majority of the scenes in the novel are set indoors which gives it a domestic and claustrophobic feel. There are no descriptions of physical violence but there is trauma and angst while in the character of 'Mattlin' Faulks creates a villain with a truly vicious mentality. The mood is down beat- in fact mock Gothic in the Poe inspired sub-plot involving the renovation of the Manor House- and the book is shot through with mordant wit but there are also lighter moments of tenderness and near slapstick. On its publication, The Girl at the Lion d'Or was lauded in reviews for Faulks' ability to evoke a sense of time and place and for his adroitness in creating engaging characters. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Girl at the Lion d'Or」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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