The Women of Chateau Lafayette

Marthe Simone is one of the protagonists of the narrative and one of its three main narrative voices. An orphan found in the north of France during World War I, Marthe is the first child to be brought into the Lafayette Memorial Foundation’s orphanage at Chavaniac castle by Beatrice. For a time, she believes that Maxime and the mysterious “Minerva” Furlaud are her parents, but by the end of the narrative, she learns that Beatrice falsified her birth record to make her nationality unquestionable. Her first fiancé and childhood best friend, Henri Pinton, dies as a prisoner of war. Initially out of necessity, she marries Yves Travert, a gendarme, and grows to love him. Because she is blond and blue eyed, Obersturmführer Wolff infers that she has German lineage.

Marthe holds a passion for the arts—an interest that Beatrice fostered during Marthe’s childhood. Marthe’s ability to sculpt and use different artistic media provide her with the skills necessary to forge false identification papers. Though she initially follows what she calls the “orphan’s motto” to “[a]lways look out for me, myself, and I” (6), Marthe eventually takes on a greater role in the Resistance through her forgeries and risks everything to save Jewish children from the Gestapo.