Célina
Célina
translated from the French by Philip Terry
Published: 18 July 2024
In the late 1850s, Célina, a young girl aged fifteen, takes up work as a maid for the Victor Hugo family in Guernsey. There she encounters the delicate balance between the professional and the personal, and the obligations upon her as her livelihood is at stake.
Axelrad’s fictional account of a relationship whose traces she found in Hugo’s diaries and letters, captures the changing times in which Célina lived, and life in the Channel Islands.
‘Pitch-perfect, and so light yet so profound. All of Axelrad's books have at their centre a silent, vulnerable young woman, but also one who is tough and resilient, totally unsentimental but deeply responsive and actually very intelligent. How such a person emerges out of such apparent silence is the wonder of her work. Célina is as quiet and devastating a novel as I have read in a long time. Unforgettable.’ — Gabriel Josipovici, author of 100 Days
‘Seen through Célina’s eyes, told with her curiosity, her wonder, her sharp observations, what we witness unfolding here is not so much Victor Hugo’s life as that of the young narrator. We see the intelligence she brings to bear, playing her few cards just so in a time which may be the most patriarchal in our history: the nineteenth century. Catherine Axelrad describes a quiet young woman who nevertheless hears everything, sees everything, silently appraises her lovers, picks and chooses, and escapes submission in her own way. It’s a joyful read.’
— Colombe Schneck, author of The Paris Trilogy
'Living in exile in the Channel Islands, the irrepressibly philandering author of Les Misérables went through what is called his “Chambermaid Period”. In this moving short novel, Catherine Axelrad gives us the great man and his retinue, his house and his mania for Gothic décor, the island and the threatening sea, all through the eyes of a chambermaid—not a fantasy maid, but the real girl from Alderney whose death in 1861 saddened the whole Hugolian establishment. The poverty, ill-health and exploitation of working folk and especially of the young girls who are brought to life here deepen the understanding of what Hugo’s great novel was really about. In this lively translation by Philip Terry, Axelrad’s portrait of a normal yet unique Victorian household seen from “downstairs” is a true gem.'
— David Bellos, author of The Novel of the Century. The Extraordinary Adventure of Les Misérables
Paperback original, with lilac endpages
180 x 120 mm
146 pages
ISBN: 978-1-7397783-7-8
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