But the novel becomes really exciting after Germaine’s self-provoked expulsion from her native paradise. With two of her children fathered by prominent lovers, traveling in the technologically most advanced carriage of her time, she finally reaches, with a little help from her new German travel companion, Urmson’s own native province. Through the eyes of an urbane Parisian, the people, the food, the provincial lifestyle take on a downright exotic, almost adventurous charm.