Jacqueline Roussety

Roman: Die Voyageurin

(Novel)

sujetverlag Bremen 2011.

 

Summary:

The novel tells a Story of Michelle, a young woman, who embarks on a journey against the wish of her family, to search his father who leaves the family for good. The story also deals with the agony of Isolde, Michelle's mother, who is coming face to face with her tumultuous past, her life in France and political situation in post-war Germany. She was reliving her past and her grief was not eased with the time.

The journey through France in search of her farther was becoming more and more thrilling. Isolde wanted to forget her own pain and she tried really hard to give up the search but her heart was pursuing this endless journey, Michelle remains persistent throughout her life to get the answer.

Finally, Isolde stops arguing with Michelle and her pursuit, Isolde has to deal with past on her own.

In flashbacks, she remembers post-war Germany, in which she lived as a young girl in Mecklenburg and an early death of her mother left Anna torn and she has become a destitute child. For some inexplicable reasons, Lena, a friend of her mother, who was from Gdansk, took 13-year old Isolde with her.

The escape from the GDR takes Isolde to West Germany, and after boarding and home, she ends up in Frankfurt at the beginning of 1960s.  There she met a young Frenchman and fell in love with him. Isolde gets pregnant with Jean-Paul and suddenly one day he abandons the family, he remains untraceable for years. One day Jean Paul abandons her and remained untraceable for years. Isolde loses her job and apartment. To give her child a home, she marries an Englishman who adopts Michelle. The family moves to England. After few years, her marriage turns out to a hell and in those circumstance Isolde flew back to Germany with her two children.

Michelle, grew up as an introvert child. Isolde does not want to reveal the past and about the father to her. She does not even reveal surname and for Michelle finding her unknown father remains a futile endeavor. This leads an endless fight between Michelle and her new family.

By a strange coincidence, Michelle learns from a friend full name of her father and she also gets to know the secret phone number and the address of her father.

The story is set in the nineties. The father Jean-Paul lives with his family near Paris. Michelle makes several phone calls, but all the times she is able to talk to her father's wife. She is again blocked the way. Shortly thereafter, the father seems to have disappeared again without a trace.

Michelle travels to Paris with her boyfriend Pit to find a way to get the new location of her father. But for that moment, every attempt was in vain. No one could help in Paris, until one day when they went for hitchhiking, this happened again accidentally. She find out that her father is in southern France.

The following summer, Michelle and Pit stood in front of his house, again secretly he disappeared, as if had known this before.

The novel is embedded with historical developments and a thriller with sensitive sequences. The novel is based on a character of Michelle, who is deeply surrounded with the feeling of divorce, adoption, stamp and blemish of "illegitimacy”, she is torn between her troubled and emotional world.

The book tells how the characters are intermingled in search of truth? Where does this start and how much power does it have to destroy life and what steps does it take?

And, what about the eternal life lie? Necessary protection to survive or an evil that needs to be tackled? There are many answers, but only one question:

What is the price and who has to pay for it?

 

Who is the father? You are the father!  Are you the father?