Search - The Cat (Harbrace paperbound library)

It’s the second marriage for both Emile, 73 and Marguerite, 71. They have marital problems. They remember their first spouses with fondness and their second is a distant second in their affections. Another issue is class: from a rich background, she feels contempt and aversion for his working man's ways. Also problematic is that after they committed irrevocable acts against each other, they stopped eating and sleeping together. They even stopped speaking and communicate through nasty notes and scornful behavior. Simenon makes this nutty hostility believable and unfolds the plot consistent with the personalities of the characters. This novel, written when Simenon was 64, is also a study of restless old age, the need for companionship of some kind, and the corrosive effect of avarice and animosity.