Ignorance - Michle Roberts

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2013

Jeanne and Marie-Angle grow up, side by side yet apart, in the Catholic village of Ste Madeleine. Marie-Angle is the daughter of the grocer, inflated with ideas of her rightful place in society; Jeanne's mother washes clothes for a living and used to be a Jew. When war arrives, the village must play its part in a game for which no one knows the rules - not the dubious hero who embroils Marie-Angele in the black market, nor the artist living alone with his red canvases. In these uncertain times, the enemy may be hiding in your garden shed and the truth can be buried under a pyramid of recriminations. A mesmerising exploration of guilt, faith, desire and judgement, Ignorance brings to life a people at war.