Chapter 16, The Recipe Book Summary

Victorine juggles potatoes and tells Léonie and Thérèse about a famous gypsy circus. The girls peel potatoes and argue about French and English food. Léonie holds back the urge to cry. Victorine tells the girls about the stories that used to circulate about the Gypsies and Jews, such as they stole little blond children and killed them. Thérèse adds that the Catholic Church asks its supporters to pray for the conversion of Jews, explaining how the Jews put Jesus to death and comparing them to the evil of communists. Léonie forces herself to deny her positive memories of Jewish friends at school. She leaves to see her mother in the conservatory.

Madeleine works on a dress pattern, and Léonie asks about...