A Balcony in the ForestIn the Ardennes Forest on the Begian border the French guns point north-east, awaiting the German onslaught. One reinforced concrete blockhouse in the heart of the forest is manned, this winter of 1939/40, by Lieutenant Grange with three men, who live in a chalet built over it. cut off from the rest of the world, their senses heightened to capture the sounds and smells of the forest, the men create their own security as autumn turns to winter. Later, though, when winter turns to spring, when the sap rises and the panzer divisions attack, Lieutenant Grange meets the fate he has never believed he would escape. But if this is a story of soldiers, it is not about fighting. It is about solitude, about watching and waiting - and about love, the young lieutenant's devotion to Mona, the child-widow discovered like a sprite in the forest one rainy night, who, in this surreal period of suspence, becomes his lover. |
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Albert Canal already apéritif Ardennes army barbwire emplacements began Belgian Belgium beneath block blockhouse branches breath Buttés calm canteen captain cavalry chestnut tree cigarette clatter clearing coffee cold concrete darkness door earth edge embrasure empty eyes faint Falizes floated forest frontier glanced Gourcuff Grange decided Grange felt Grange realized Grange thought Grange's grass gray hand head heart heavy Hervouët horizon Julia Julien Gracq leaned Les Falizes Les Houches Les Mazures lieutenant light looked Meuse Mona Mona's Moriarmé morning mouth murmur night odor Olivon once pale phony war road Roof rose seemed service path shadow shook shrugging his shoulders shutters side Siegfried Line silence sleep slipped smelled smoke snow sometimes sound stared stirred stopped strange sudden suddenly tanks tiny truck turned vague Varin voice wakened walked walls warm watched wind window woods yeutenant