Description
This historical coming of age novel revolves around the Paris National Institute for the Deaf and the rue Saint-Jacques location it has occupied since 1794. It chronicles a decade in the lives of the director of the institute, Father Sicard (historical), and three boys–two of them nonhearing and nonspeaking–who struggle to overcome impairments and misfortune as they endeavor to find their way in an antagonistic world. Against the backdrop of the French Revolution, each boy follows a separate course, plotted according to individual need and design. Jean Massieu (historical), the youngest child in a poor, provincial family of six deaf siblings, seeks to find success and happiness within the deaf community as a teacher. Eric Touzot (fictional), an orphan of unusual talent, is determined to prove to himself and the world that he can match wits with the hearing community and come out on top. Guy-Robert Ledoux (fictional), fatherless and the brother of a deceased deaf twin sister, has been soured to the point that he thinks only in terms of self-gratification and personal gain.
Jean and Eric, first as adolescents and then as young men, discover that mastering sign language and learning to read and write are only two of the many challenges they face. Hormones, sex, love, the prospects for marriage, the overriding need to find a self-sustaining profession, and unrelenting bias all pose daunting obstacles. Complicating matters, the unpredictable events of the French Revolution place everyone in harm's way. Guy-Robert, who is older and whose outlook and hearing set him apart from the two boys, is all-too-willing to court danger in pursuit of money, sex, and social standing. He allows himself to be recruited as counterinsurgent agent (owing to his uncanny ability to read lips) solely in order to reap the spoils. His path is self-destructive from the beginning. But it is not his exploits as counterinsurgent that bring about his undoing. Addicted to sex but disdainful of love, he hadn’t counted on meeting the beautiful and rapacious Alexandra Gallo, wife of one of the most powerful and feared arms brokers in Europe. He couldn’t have known that the theft of her jewels and secret love letters would lead him to such ecstasy… and agony.
If Eric and Jean face the same adversity, they deal with it in very different ways. Eric hides his anger and sense of injustice beneath a veneer of ludic congeniality. Ruggedly handsome and physically precocious, he is a natural with the ladies while attracting the hostility of envious suitors. To cross him is to fall victim to the cunning that sends two antagonists to their graves and another to prison. Eric's superior intelligence and mechanical acumen enable him to succeed as master artisan in the clock-making trade and to spawn the goal of marrying his employer's daughter, the lovely Angélique, and one day taking over the business. The father (Charles Monnot, historical), who is not of a mind to accept a deaf son-in-law, has promised her hand to a wealthy cabinetmaker. The young couple flee, leading to two attempts on Eric's life and a murder-suicide before the issue is resolved.
Having attended a few classes at the village school, Jean dreams of becoming a teacher. Taking him under his wing at the Bordeaux school, Father Sicard discovers a prodigy in him. Not only does the boy learn rapidly, he also shows great talent for the fundraising demonstrations that are the program's lifeline. Jean’s performance at Sicard’s interview for the Paris directorship earns him a position as instructor. After an early love interest that ends tragically, Jean meets Marie-Odile, his nonhearing bride to be, an instructor of the deaf like himself. Ultimately, following increased institutional responsibilities, an endeavor to teach signs to the Wild Boy of Aveyron, and a final farewell, Jean sets off on a southbound coach to begin a new life.