Summary

This is the story of Mathilde and Manech: They met in the summer of 1910; she is ten, and he is thirteen. The first thing he says to her is, "You can't walk?" Then he asks if she has any friends; Mathilde shakes her head. Manech wants to be her friend, but Mathilde says no. He offers to teach her to swim, but Mathilde again refuses. Despite her rudeness, Mathilde cannot forget Manech. She is relieved when he comes back the next day and offers again to teach her to swim. Sylvain and Benedicte like Manech, a hardworking fisherman’s son with a sickly mother. The children become best friends, Manech teaches Mathilde to swim, and they share their first kiss in the summer of 1914. There are mimosas by the lake where she learns to swim. In April of 1916, Manech learns that he will...