The Widow (aka, La veuve Couderc and Ticket of Leave) was first published in 1942 and has been reprinted several times. Simenon’s story of a stranger called Jean who arrives in a small French town and enters into a relationship with Tati, a widow, fascinated critics like Andre Gide and Paul Theroux. Theroux provides an insightful Introduction to The Widow and puts the novel in context with the hundreds of other novels Simenon wrote. It becomes clear after the first page of Theroux’s Introduction that he’s read plenty of Simenon and admires the prolific writer. Theroux points out that Simenon distrusted critics and scholars. Most scholars dismissed Simenon as a commercial writer and hack. Yet, as Theroux notes, The Widow, published the same year as Camus’s The Stranger, is a deeper and more profound work.
Tati lives with her father-in-law who abuses her. Tati’s sister-in-law plots to oust her brother’s widow and take over the family homestead. Amid all this drama, Simenon explores guilt, love, and desperation. For a slim, 152-page book, The Widow packs a wallop that will stay with you for a while. Do you have a favorite Simenon book? GRADE: A
I’m a big fan of his work. I like the standalones much better than the Maigrets. My favorite is probably The Man Who Watched Trains Go By. Most of his books reprinted by NYBR are excellent.
Steve, I have a bunch of the New York Review of Books editions of Simenon’s works. I agree that his standalones are top-notch.
It’s too bad they decided to use photo covers, though.
Rick, I’m with you on photo covers. Most of them are dreadful.
The sheer volume of Simenon’s work is pretty intimidating for a newbie, but he’s someone I’ve always thought about trying. Perhaps “The Widow” would be a good place to start. One of these days…….
Michael, most of Simenon’s works are short. I read THE WIDOW in a little over an hour.
But you’re a speed reader, George. It takes much longer for regular folks.
No favorite, though I’ve read all the Maigrets and more than a couple of dozen others. I have this one under the TICKET OF LEAVE title. I had a list of which I’ve read and which I haven’t, but I seem to have misplaced it.
Jeff, the “Tickets to Leave” title refers to the fact that Jean, the stranger in town, has just been released from prison.
So strange that I was just looking at this online. Maybe because I was looking at books for widows. Now I have to order it.
Patti, there’s an older edition of THE WIDOW and THE MAGICIAN included in one volume. The translator is John Petrie, the same translator as the NYBR edition. Many librarians have it in their collections.
I have the 1965 Penguin edition, and it is the same Petrie translation.
Jeff, the New York Review of Books edition includes Paul Theroux’s brilliant Introduction that puts Simenon and THE WIDOW into context. Well worth reading!
I enjoy both his Maigret and non-Maigret books. There’s something soothing about their style—similar to Christie.
Deb, you’re right about the style similarities between Christie and Simenon. Both writers eschewed gaudy style, opting for clarity and precise detail instead. And, both writers knew how to tell a compelling story.
There is a difference. Simenon is a better writer than Christie and he often deals with working class or middle class characters whereas Christie tended to be a snob.
Steve, Simenon’s experience as a reporter gave him insights into all classes of people. Christie was mostly familiar with the Upper Crust. Remember Raymond Chandler’s remark that Dashiell Hammett took murder out of the drawing room and put it back in the gutter where it belonged?
“Most scholars dismissed Simenon as a commercial writer and hack”. Ah, but isn’t that what most scholars think of all genre authors? Of course it is.
Rick, there’s a certain snobbery in Academia that regards genre fiction as the trash bins of Literature.
Prefer the Maigret books to the standalone novels, and have enjoyed many of them, though I still have a lot left to read.
@ Steve: I don’t think Christie was a snob.
Rick, Jeff Meyerson has read all the Maigrets. I’m around halfway through the series. But, I also enjoy Simenon’s standalone novels and memoirs.
I also remember mainly the Maigret novels, don’t remember how many I read as a young man.
Btw Simenon was Belgian – his wiki is quite fascinating.
Wolf, like Christie’s Hercule Poirot, Georges Simenon regarded himself as an outsider. Paul Theroux’s Introduction to THE WIDOW explores some of Simenon’s oddities.
I’ve read some of his autobiographical books as well as non-fiction about him by others. He was (in his own estimation) in the Wilt Chamberlain class of womanizers (to put it politely), though in his case a lot of them were prostitutes.
His autobiography is very tiresome—especially in regards to women. He seemed to be a “quantity over quality”/“hit it and quit it” type. No thanks.
I downloaded the Theroux introduction and I agree it was well worth reading even for a long time Simenon fan. I’ve probably read more books by him than any other writer. My copy of this novel is the Popular Library edition of 1956 reprinting from a Doubleday HB. That cover belongs in the Erskine Caldwell school of PB covers. My favorite of his novels is The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By but there are so many I’ve enjoyed. Back in working days, I spent a lot of time with a client in Lausanne, Switzerland where Simenon spent his last years and even more in Belgium, which could be a dreary place with day after day of drizzle and fog. But I love it and saw it more than the rich playground of Lausanne was the perfect country of origin for Simenon.
Richard, I’m glad you enjoyed the Paul Theroux introduction as much as I did. Clearly, he’s a fan of Simenon, too. I visited France, but never made it to Lausanne. Katie’s been to Switzerland and loved it.
I see my hurriedly written post may have left the meaning of the last line fuzzy. Brussels and to a degree also the rather watery birthplace of Liege were the appropriate homes for Simenon. My clients (who were expats from other European Countries) during my business trips to Lausanne told me too many stories about the severe nature of the some of the Swiss–very officious and cold. I will say I had some wonderful meals there–I still remember the fresh lake perch from Lake Geneva. Often stayed at the very ornate and expensive hotel Beaurivage Palace. Thankfully I wasn’t paying and the choice of hotel was made by the client. Here is a link to the hotel website: https://beaurivage.grandluxuryhotels.com
Richard, thanks for the link! Looks enchanting!