“The Absolute Ear” by Agnès Desarthe: notebook

Imagine a village by the sea, with a piece of cliff that collapses from time to time, a beach that was fatal to a child, long ago. We will end up knowing his mother, and even his father, because secrets ricochet in Agnès Desarthe's new novel, the characters and events echo each other. They rhyme. A musical term would be needed to express this (a teenager in the book likes the nurse to say "cela" rather than "ça"), since we are on the eve of a concert. It will bring together old lovers, old friends, rejuvenate a certain face, make Mesdames Podevin and Gardanel laugh, wearing the same mohair sweater embroidered with pearls.

Friday arrives, "we prepare as if for a robbery." We check our clothes, our scores, our instrument. "We look at the time. We wonder if we have time to rework measure 12 of the third piece, the one where we have to link the triplet with the two sextuplets of doubles." It's a slightly technical passage, the author allows herself just one, and let's trust the conductor, everything will go well. The conductor of the orchestra, a wind band, has just been retired by a young HR director. Redundancy plan. He's supposed to have lots of projects. Will he announce this evening of December 18 that he's also retiring as a conductor?

Perfect Pitch begins with another problem, a mayoral problem exposed at the city council meeting. A solution will have to be found for the dead. The cemetery