Valerie Perrin’s charming novel, Forgotten on Sunday, translated from French by Hildegarde Searle, affirms the power of storytelling. The narrator, Justine, a 21-year-old assistant nurse at an old people’s home, loves the residents and is fascinated by their stories.

Justine explains, “For me, it was there that everything began: they told us stories.  And old folks, since they have nothing else to do, tell the past like nobody else.”

Justine grew up in a house without stories.  Orphaned when her parents and aunt and uncle died in a car accident, Justine and her cousin Jules are raised by their grandparents. Gran and Gramps seldom talk to each other and never tell stories. They bury the past.

So when Justine buys a notebook to write down the story of 95-year-old Helene, her favorite patient, she herself begins to feel more connected to her own past.  Eventually, she looks up records of the police investigation of the car accident, which gives her clues about the relationship between her grandparents. 

Helene’s story is central to the novel:  When Helene, who cannot read, meets a handsome young man, Etienne, the son of a blind man, he solves the problem of her dyslexia by teaching her braille.  They are a happy couple until the Germans invade France.  The Nazis drag Etienne away to a concentration camp.  He is tortured and forgets his past. Helene sends letters to hospitals but cannot find him.

Justine is very moved by Helene’s story, and begins to feel emotions for a man she sleeps with, whom she calls What’s-his-Name.   She has always been nonchalant about relationships with men. Now she begins to feel love.

This layered novel, published by Europa, is a page-turner. A commentary on the importance of memories, too.