The story of Agnès Morel is told in two parts, each one beginning with her being found by a man who will care for her. One cold January morning, the farmer Jean Dupère finds a baby in a basket, and nearly twenty years later the Abbé Paul finds a young woman wrapped in a greatcoat sleeping in the doorway of Chartres Cathedral.

Two periods in one life, each lasting nearly twenty years, come together as the novel progresses and Agnès’s past catches up with her.  Is the past doomed to repeat itself, or will Agnès at last find redemption and release.

Points for discussion

1. Agnès comes to Chartres in the first place because she has seen a photograph of the labyrinth. How important is the motif of the labyrinth to the novel – is it more than decoration?

2. The novel has been criticised for being slow moving. Do you agree? Does the pace matter or is it used for dramatic effect as the two halves of Agnès’s life collide? Do you find the interweaving of the two parts of her story effective or distracting?

3. Agnès is described as ‘enigmatic’, difficult to read.  She is also illiterate for much of the novel. To what extent are we encouraged to regard both qualities as having more to do with a lack of concern or curiosity on the part of others than any in-built trait in Agnès herself?

4. A major theme of the book is the discovery of lost or hidden things: a doll, a turquoise earring, a small dog, memories and secrets. Do you feel that the author uses this theme effectively or does she over or underplay it?

5. The novel’s characters all have their difficulties and weaknesses and goodness is not always found where we might expect it. Would you agree that the moral absolutes of the book are not so much good and evil as kindness and unkindness?

6. The author finishes her novel with an epilogue in which she tells us what is going to happen to the main characters. Were you glad of this or do you think it would have been more effective to leave that to our imagination?

Suggestions for prayer

1. Give thanks for the great cathedrals, and the stories they tell us of how human beings have long wanted to make something beautiful for God.

2. Give thanks for those acts of kindness that make all our lives easier. Pray for help to show kindness to others.

3. Pray for all victims of abuse, especially children and young people.

4. Pray for those who are lost, and all who need healing of mind or spirit.