The Women of Chateau Lafayette

Fourteen months after Henri’s departure, France has capitulated and has been divided between the German-occupied territory and the Free Zone, the latter of which is led by the cooperative Vichy government. Marthe is returning from the black market in Paulhaguet on her bike when she encounters Sergeant Travert, the local gendarme. He inspects her ill-gotten goods and makes sly remarks, hinting that he knows about her illegal activities, but he ultimately lets her go. After returning to Chavaniac, where she still works as a teacher and distributes the goods, Marthe heads to the attic to smoke but finds a woman already there. She recognizes the woman as Anna de LaGrange, the daughter of baroness Emily de LaGrange, who runs the Lafayette Memorial Foundation at Chavaniac. The two have not seen one another since they were children, so they get reacquainted. Marthe learns that, like Henri, Anna’s husband is also a prisoner of war.

Soon, the Vichy government sends officials to look for political dissenters at Chavaniac’s preventorium because Marshal Pétain may be visiting the castle. When it is her turn to be questioned, Marthe denies knowing that any of her colleagues are Jewish, Freemasons, or what the officer considers to be “sexual deviants,” though she silently reflects that she wouldn’t tell them even if she did know of any. They enquire specifically if she reveres General Lafayette and his belief in human equality, which they label a “myth.” They make her sign a document that states that she is not part of any secret society. Before she leaves, the official questions her about the nature of her name, but the baron tells her to leave before she can give an answer. The baroness then offers her a commission to replace Lafayette’s paintings with ones of Lafayette’s wife, Adrienne, who is said to better reflect the values of the current regime.

Adrienne reminisces about the fact that she has always asked the reason for things, despite the era’s rule of unquestioned obedience. At age 14, she is to marry Gilbert du Moitier, the last of the Lafayettes, a provincial noble family. She meets him for the first time at her family’s chapel, and they marry. During their wedding feast, she has her first conversation with Gilbert, and he tries to convince her to leave the banquet, citing his family’s motto, Cur non? (“Why not?”). Charmed, Adrienne conspires with Gilbert to leave the room, and they steal away to the gardens, where they share a first kiss under the almond trees. That night, they discuss how, despite their family’s arrangement, Gilbert has chosen to marry Adrienne of his own free will, and she finds that she is falling in love with her new husband. They promise to exchange their hearts for one another, and Gilbert claims Adrienne as a Lafayette.

Marthe studies the history of Adrienne, the wife of General Lafayette, with Anna in her new studio. She finds herself drawn to Anna in ways she doesn’t yet understand. They joke about Marthe’s future art exhibitions and circumvent talking about the war-induced ration shortages at the preventorium. Anna finds a photo featuring Madame Beatrice, the Foundation’s founder, a handsome French soldier, and a young girl that Anna believes to be Marthe. Marthe doesn’t believe Anna, but she wonders how Madame Beatrice managed to thrive during World War I.

After receiving news that her estranged husband, Willie, has suffered a leg injury, Beatrice makes her way to his hospital room in Paris, determined to fight for their marriage and renew their love. When she finds him in bed with another woman, Beatrice steels herself and confronts Willie about the seriousness of his injury, which he tells her will require a difficult surgery. Willie is adamant that Beatrice shouldn’t have made the trip to Paris from New York, given the political turmoil after the archbishop’s murder in Sarajevo. He tries to reassure her that the woman in his bed was only studying him for a bust that is being made of him, and Beatrice is doubly enraged since she, too, is a sculptor. As she leaves, she mentions bringing their sons to visit him, but he staunchly refuses.

Later, she complains about Willie to her nephew Victor at the Ritz’s café. She takes the opportunity to set Victor up with Emily Sloane, a wealthy heiress whom she befriended in New York. As Victor intimates that they should all leave France, mobilized troops descend upon the streets of Paris. After a call with Willie, Beatrice and Emily go to the American embassy to secure a passport—something she never before needed when visiting France. After Beatrice retrieves her sons from their summer home, she, Victor, and Emily take the last train out of the city, and they witness the mass casualties from the war raging at the front. Victor decides to remain behind and fight, despite Beatrice’s efforts to convince him to return with her. She, her children, and Emily sail for New York. She resolves to start a charitable foundation to help the war effort and decides to name it after the revolutionary hero Lafayette.

When King Louis XV dies and his grandson Louis XVI takes the throne alongside his queen, Marie Antoinette, Adrienne’s father decides to present Adrienne and Gilbert at court. Adrienne is tasked with ingratiating herself with Marie Antoinette to secure a foothold for the Noailles. Marie Antoinette sweeps Adrienne into her retinue easily enough, and from then on, Adrienne follows her about, taking note of court activities and reporting back to her father. When Adrienne eventually attracts the attention of Philippe, the Duc de Chartres, she is horrified by his advances. Meanwhile, Gilbert is openly mocked for his provincial origins. He tells her privately that he has no interest in court because he finds it all frivolous, but eventually, Gilbert’s association with Adrienne earns him membership in the Society of the Wooden Sword. With her encouragement, he participates more prominently in social activities with the king’s courtiers. On Christmas Eve, however, he expresses his longing for Chavaniac and its tradition of gathering around one loaf of brioche bread with a lit candle to remind them that although the world snuffs out fire, every generation must bring forth the light again.When King Louis XV dies and his grandson Louis XVI takes the throne alongside his queen, Marie Antoinette, Adrienne’s father decides to present Adrienne and Gilbert at court. Adrienne is tasked with ingratiating herself with Marie Antoinette to secure a foothold for the Noailles. Marie Antoinette sweeps Adrienne into her retinue easily enough, and from then on, Adrienne follows her about, taking note of court activities and reporting back to her father. When Adrienne eventually attracts the attention of Philippe, the Duc de Chartres, she is horrified by his advances. Meanwhile, Gilbert is openly mocked for his provincial origins. He tells her privately that he has no interest in court because he finds it all frivolous, but eventually, Gilbert’s association with Adrienne earns him membership in the Society of the Wooden Sword. With her encouragement, he participates more prominently in social activities with the king’s courtiers. On Christmas Eve, however, he expresses his longing for Chavaniac and its tradition of gathering around one loaf of brioche bread with a lit candle to remind them that although the world snuffs out fire, every generation must bring forth the light again.

It is now 166 years later, and Marthe is celebrating Christmas Eve at Chavaniac with the other members of the foundation, taking part in that same tradition. However, the group uses potato and chestnut cream bread because of the war rations. Later that night, Marthe and Anna listen to Radio Vichy propagate its message of collaboration with Hitler’s government. Anna reveals that she has a strained relationship with her mother, who left her for a year when Anna was a small child. Marthe reveals that she knows absolutely nothing about her own mother; she was an orphan during World War I. She explains that she allegedly received her name because she was the first girl at the orphanage, and the Americans stationed nearby named her after Martha Washington. As Marthe contemplates Anna, she uses her as a model for her portrait of Adrienne. When they turn in for the night, they share a bed, and Marthe feels truly warm for the first time since the war began.

Back in New York in 1915, Beatrice finds herself insulted in a leaflet for her war relief charity, the Lafayette Fund, and for collecting donations nationwide to send Lafayette kits that include new socks and underpants to soldiers at the front. After talking to Emily, Beatrice wants to put on a grand play about Lafayette and the events of Valley Forge to remind the public of the former allyship between the United States and France. Specifically, she wants to cast the children of the wealthy to take part in the play to boost donations to the cause.

Later, she accepts an interview with Mitzi Miller and explains her intentions with the play. The interview takes a turn as Mitzi tries to convince Beatrice to join the Woman’s Peace Party, which is dedicated to helping women gain the vote and stop the war. They promote peace by distributing pamphlets and propaganda, and they also visit soldiers in the trenches and demand that they stop fighting. Bewildered, Beatrice refuses and criticizes Mitzi for branding vote-seeking women as incapable of understanding world affairs. Mitzi leaves, and when Beatrice’s son, Billy, comes to find her, she doubts his ability to play Lafayette’s role and reminds him that no one is born a hero; she also stresses that Lafayette was once a young boy like him.

In 1775, Adrienne must still refuse Philippe’s advances, but as they dance, he seizes the opportunity to make Gilbert trip while he dances with Marie Antoinette, who laughs at his expense. The Duc d’Ayen tries to strongarm Gilbert into taking the role of the king’s brother’s first gentleman, but Gilbert, who sees no honor in the position, insults the king’s brother at the next ball for only being able to recite quotes; as a result, he loses the appointment, ruining his reputation in the process. He is then sent away from court to the military garrison at Metz. Adrienne learns that she is with child—news that Gilbert is happy to receive.

He returns for the new king and queen’s coronation ceremony, and unbeknownst to everyone, American colonists have been revolting against the British king. Months later, Adrienne gives birth to her daughter, Henriette, much to the chagrin of her father. By 1776, the Boston Tea Party occurs. Both Gilbert and Adrienne are inspired by the American Declaration of Independence, and Gilbert wants to take part in their fight for freedom. He and his brother-in-law express this intention to Adrienne’s father, but because the king of France wishes to remain neutral, Adrienne’s father forbids their departure and arranges for Gilbert to become a diplomat in Rome instead. However, Gilbert never makes it to Italy, and although her father threatens to have him made a criminal if Adrienne does not write to Gilbert and bring him home, Adrienne refuses.

In 1941, Marthe is once again presented with another attestation of loyalty to Marshal Pétain, which she is forced to sign. When Anna later finds Marthe drawing Adrienne, she comments on the beauty of the pieces before handing Marthe some interzone postcards that would allow Marthe to contact Henri. Marthe hesitates to use the gift but eventually decides to write to Henri in the hopes that he is still alive. A month later, Sam, who had also been a prisoner of war like Henri, escapes and returns to Chavaniac. In the spring, Marthe and Anna lead the girls into the woods to scavenge for food, and Anna tells Marthe that the Marshal is no longer coming to the preventorium, for which Marthe is happy. Anna believes that Marthe should want to be made famous by the Marshal, but Marthe would rather be no one in this world than be famous at such a cost.

Later, Marthe visits Henri’s mother, Mrs. Pinton, for the first time since the war began and finds that she is harboring a Jewish family: a father named Uriah Kohn and his children, Josephine, Daniel, and Gabriella. Gabriella is quite sick, and Marthe recognizes lesions that suggest tuberculosis. She asks Uriah to bring Gabriella to the preventorium, but he refuses, believing the castle to be unsafe for his daughter. When she returns to the castle, Marthe goes to meet Madame Simon and tells her about the child and her suspicions about her illness. Protocol dictates that Marthe be in quarantine for a week after exposure to tuberculosis. She pulls out her file, and as Marthe looks over her birth record, she finds that her mother’s name—which she had never known before—is included.

In 1915, Victor has been shot. His parents, the Chapmans, want Beatrice’s help in convincing him to leave the front. Unbeknownst to Beatrice, her husband has planned with the Chapmans to transfer Victor to the American Flying Corps, and she is furious that he did not tell her about it. Beatrice still decides to accompany them after her play, The Children’s Revolution, wraps up, and Emily makes her case to do so as well on account of her burgeoning love for a French officer, the Baron de LaGrange. On opening night, Beatrice encourages her boys to perform well, and as she looks on, she notices Theodore Roosevelt in the crowd. He comes to greet her backstage after the show, asks about her husband, and then gives a speech to the children about never remaining neutral in issues of right and wrong. With the play finished, Beatrice resolves to be as much a symbol of courage as her husband is for her children.