'The Cat' by Georges Simenon.

Translated by Ros Schwartz
Published by Penguin Classics,
6 November 2025.
ISBN: 978-0-24180803-0 (PB)
Originally Published  in 1967. 

Émile and Marguerite married rather hastily in their sixties after having been widowed. It appears to be a match made out of loneliness, but the fragile relationship collapses when Émile’s much-loved cat is found poisoned in the cellar. Marguerite disliked the animal, and Émile is convinced that she has killed it. He retaliates in kind by seeing off Marguerite’s parrot which she has stuffed, much to Émile’s discomfiture (his cat ended up in the bin). They never speak to one another again (divorce is not an option as Marguerite is a fervent Catholic). Despite remaining in the same house, they communicate only by short barbed notes, hateful glances and silent accusations. They even sleep in the same room, use the same bathroom and eat in the same kitchen, keeping their own food locked away in different cupboards and doing their own washing up. Émile often shadows Marguerite when she goes shopping. What little pleasure each gets in life is a result of attempting to disconcert the other. Both want to be the survivor.

[By way of an aside, the malevolence on display brings to mind one of my favourite novels. In ‘Les Célibataires’ by Henry de Montherlant this quality is considered: ‘It was malevolence that kept him alive, for malevolence, like alcohol, is a preservative. After a certain age, every biting word uttered, every anonymous letter posted, every calumny spread abroad wins you another few months from the tomb, because it stimulates your vitality. This can also be seen among animals: a particularly cruel hen, a stubborn horse or a vicious dog will live long than its fellows.’ I heartily recommend this very amusing novel. There is an excellent translation (as ‘The Bachelors’) by Terence Kilmartin, but I believe it is out of print at the moment. Abebooks has copies.]

The majority of the novel thus consists of direct psychological warfare between the two. It is only relatively late on that the first visitor – an acquaintance of Marguerite - comes to the house. Émile thinks she is bringing assistance into their struggle (the battle is no longer equal) and it drives him out. He has spent a lot of time previously drinking in cafés and bars (he sometimes has wine at home around breakfast time) and this now increases. Having been unfaithful during his first marriage, Émile seeks some sort of solace in the arms (a rather inaccurate description of hasty couplings in the kitchen) of Nelly who runs one of these bars. He moves into her spare room as a paying guest for a short period which finishes after Marguerite keeps appearing on the other side of the road from the bar as if she is keeping a watch on it and him. Émile returns to the house and their dysfunctional relationship, as well as to a spike in his consumption of alcohol. Is there any hope of a reconciliation?

The novel is thus a study of the most extreme marital discord. One realises as we go on that it is all written from Émile’s (and thus a man’s) perspective, not that he is narrating it as such. As a consequence we know what he is thinking, but we never get into the mind of Marguerite. Can we believe everything he says?

When offered it for review, our esteemed editor wrote: ‘Looking at the synopsis I am not sure it’s strictly crime fiction. But I suppose killing a cat counts as a crime’ (I don’t know if that indicates her general view of felines). I imagine that most readers of Mystery People will probably think that it is not ‘strictly crime fiction’ (no Maigret here, of course), but I have posed a couple of questions at the ends of the previous two paragraphs which help to keep us guessing about what will happen. And at one point an observation could make us have the slightest doubt (and I mean the slightest) as to whether Marguerite was responsible for the death of the cat. I confess that I’m clutching at straws here.

Whether strictly crime novel or not, this is a very well-observed story. As always with Simenon, not a word is wasted and the last few lines of the book make you assess what you have read. I am happy to recommend this unusual novel.
------
David Whittle  

Georges Joseph Christian Simenon was a Belgian writer. Born 13 February 1903 in Liege Belgium Died 4 September 1989 (aged 86) Lausanne Switzerland. He was a prolific author who published nearly 200 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known as the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret.  

David Whittle is firstly a musician (he is an organist and was Director of Music at Leicester Grammar School for over 30 years) but has always enjoyed crime fiction. This led him to write a biography of the composer Bruce Montgomery who is better known to lovers of crime fiction as Edmund Crispin, about whom he gives talks now and then. He is currently convenor of the East Midlands Chapter of the Crime Writers Association.