After In Red Ink (Fleuve รditions, 2023) and A Different Blue Than Yours (Fleuve รditions, 2021), Marjorie Tixier published her fourth novel in 2024, Le pays blanc, also with Fleuve Editions. Le pays blanc is a tribute to Poland as much as to art and an intense family tale.
In 1926, Helena must abruptly leave Poland, a country to which she is so attached, as well as her mother and twin sister, to save the latter’s baby, born from an extramarital affair. After a journey across Europe, she arrives in Ostricourt, a mining town in the north of France.
In 2022, as Thomas prepares for a new exhibition of his paintings, he realizes that the unspoken secrets of his mother’s past weigh on him more and more, to the point where he can no longer paint a canvas. He knows little about her childhood in Poland, but he decides to visit the country to discover a culture he is not familiar with and try to learn more about his mother’s history.
Filling in the Blanks
The narrative unfolds across multiple timelines, following both Thomas and Helena, and traces the story of a family saga that could be that of many people. Marjorie Tixier delicately addresses psychogenealogy and the consequences of secrets and unspoken words at the heart of families. This novel, imbued with modesty, is powerful with its characters scarred by life.
Art is also a crucial element of the story, through Thomas, of course, but also Micha and the evocation of several figures from the Polish art world, particularly Stanisลaw Wyspiaลski, allowing us to discover Krakow through the various descriptions. Thomas’s journey, both psychological and physical, in Krakow takes the reader on a stroll through the streets of the former Polish capital.
Universal Quest for Freedom
With Le pays blanc, Marjorie Tixier offers readers a family saga that spans the 20th century, nearly 100 years, intertwining the fates of the characters with that of history. Her poetic writing powerfully describes exile and the wrenching from a cherished land, the infinite quest of women for freedom, too often oppressed by men, and the history of Poland and its many upheavals.
The author indeed returns to the chaotic history of Poland, repeatedly conquered by the three great empires โ German, Austrian, and Russian โ surrounding it. It gained independence in 1918 for a few years, only to be invaded again by Nazi Germany. It then endured the hardships of the USSR regime until its collapse in 1989. Marjorie Tixier allows a glimpse into a part of this European country’s history, relatively unknown to the French.
Le pays blanc highlights this painful history as well as the forced uprooting of many populations over time and history; Marjorie Tixier delivers a powerful, universal narrative, with love, art, and freedom as its cornerstones.
