At the House in the Meadows, near Saint-Mihiel, Gertrude and Juta have survived fire, exile, and winter. Little by little, life has begun again around them: visits, readings, wounded or troubled women, new bonds, and an intimacy between them that no longer needs to hide. But peace erases nothing. Lorraine remains occupied, the roads still bear the weariness of battle, and the world being born again does so under the gaze of the victors.
Between the Saint-Mihiel fair, works of care, unexpected encounters, and the first stirrings of a wider circle of women, Gertrude and Juta slowly leave the closed refuge of their house behind. What they discover is not only a wounded province: it is a country crossed by silences, desires, uncertain loyalties, where every gesture towards another may become a commitment.
With 1871 — Saint-Mihiel, the Lorraine cycle opens onto a wider world — more alive, more dangerous too — a world where love, the body, and History now move forward together.
