Janet Lewis

This compelling story of Bertrande de Rols is a rich novella with the timeless power of a fable. It was based on a famous story of a court case in mid-16th century France.Janet Lewis depicts a distant time and a traditional, rural culture based on a highly ordered patriarchal structure. When "Martin Guerre" returns from a quest after eight years, the family embraces him, and Bertrande is swept up in the relief at the apparent return to the security of the old order.But Martin has changed, and Bertrande threatens the established order with her defiant quest for the truth. Once the accusation of false identity is laid formally and the trial process begins. Many witnesses are called. Bertrande is pressured to withdraw, and she herself is reluctant to see "Martin" executed.Finally, the real, battle-weary Martin stumbles into the courtroom and is instantly recognized. He shows no mercy to Bertrande for allowing herself to be deceived. The real facts emerge, but the fate of Bertrande and Martin remains open-ended. In this new edition of Janet Lewis’s classic short novel, The Wife of Martin Guerre, Swallow Press executive editor Kevin Haworth writes that Lewis’s story is “a short novel of astonishing depth and resonance, a sharply drawn historical tale that asks contemporary questions about identity and belonging, about men and women, and about an individual’s capacity to act within an inflexible system.” Originally published in 1941, The Wife of Martin Guerre has earned the respect and admiration of critics and readers for over sixty years. Based on a notorious trial in sixteenth-century France, this story of Bertrande de Rols is the first of three novels making up Lewis’s Cases of Circumstantial Evidence suite (the other two are The Trial of Sören Qvist and The Ghost of Monsieur Scarron). Swallow Press is delighted and honored to offer readers beautiful new editions of all three Cases of Circumstantial Evidence novels, each featuring a new introduction by Kevin Haworth.

The Wife of Martin Guerre

In this new edition of Janet Lewis's classic short novel, "The Wife of Martin Guerre," Swallow Press executive editor Kevin Haworth writes that Lewis's story is "a short novel of astonishing depth and resonance, a sharply drawn historical tale that asks contemporary questions about identity and belonging, about men and women, and about an individual's capacity to act within an inflexible system." Originally published in 1941, The Wife of Martin Guerre has earned the respect and admiration of critics and readers for over sixty years. Based on a notorious trial in sixteenth-century France, this story of Bertrande de Rols is the first of three novels making up Lewis's Cases of Circumstantial Evidence suite (the other two are "The Trial of SOren Qvist" and "The Ghost of Monsieur Scarron"). Swallow Press is delighted and honored to offer readers beautiful new editions of all three "Cases of Circumstantial Evidence" novels, each featuring a new introduction by Kevin Haworth.

Der Mann, der seinem Gewissen folgte

This is the first digital version of Cases of Circumstantial Evidence, a collection of three historical novels by noted American writer Janet Lewis. For the first time, these works have been brought together in a single edition, each with a new introduction by Kevin Haworth: The Wife of Martin Guerre Based on a notorious trial in sixteenth-century France, The Wife of Martin Guerre follows Bertrande de Rois and her lost-and-returned husband through a tale of impersonation, conspiracy, and small-town intrigue. Their fascinating story has also inspired a bestselling historical study and two films, including The Return of Martin Guerre. The Trial of Sören Qvist Although set in seventeenth-century Denmark, The Trial of Sören Qvist has a contemporary feel and has been praised for its intriguing plot and for Lewis’s powerful writing. In this second novel in the Cases of Circumstantial Evidence, Lewis recounts the story of a murder, an investigation, and a pious town pastor who confesses to the crime, driven perhaps more by a recognition of his own moral flaws than by guilt for the acts of which he stood accused. The Ghost of Monsieur Scarron The court of Louis XIV and a modest Paris street provide the incongruous settings for this tale of a humble bookbinder, his wife, and the young craftsman who seduces her and blackmails her husband into covering up a terrible crime. This third and last case of circumstantial evidence bristles with character, the smell of blood, and considerable suspense against a backdrop of national political unrest in the cruel and dingy Paris of the seventeenth century.

Cases of Circumstantial Evidence

Die tragische Liebesgeschichte von Bertrande und Martin Als Martin Guerre nach langjähriger, rätselhafter Abwesenheit endlich zu seiner Frau zurückkehrt, ist Bertrande de Rols von Sinnen vor Glück. Acht Jahre lang hatte sie sich gesehnt, hatte gebangt und gezürnt, war weder Witwe noch frei gewesen, und jetzt – endlich – kann sie sich hingeben. Der Liebe, ihrer Sinnlichkeit, seinem Begehren. Welcher Dämon treibt ihr plötzlich Zweifel ins Herz? Ist der Mann, den sie liebt, wirklich Martin? Hin- und hergerissen zwischen ihrer Sehnsucht nach Zugehörigkeit und einer düsteren Ahnung entfesselt sie eine richterliche Untersuchung – und eine Tragödie.

Roman

Die Frau, die liebte

Good-bye, Son, Lewis' only collection of short fiction, was originally published in 1946, but it remains as quietly haunting today as it was then. Set in small communities of the upper Midwest and northern California in the '30s and '40s, these stories focus on the imperceptible processes, or cycles, connecting youth with age, despair and hope, life and death. Through a variety of characters (mostly female) at various stages of life, we glimpse the motion of these cycles. To some, they appear incomprehensible and therefore wholly destructive. To others, they are the source of mystery, enlightenment, and understanding. Lewis' spare, understated style allows us to see beneath action and character to the forces which, in the world of her fiction, drive both. Lewis weaves these perceptions into themes as varied as initiation ("River"), the succession of life and generations ("The House"), life-in-death ("The Apricot Harvest"), and, ultimately, life beyond death ("Good-bye, Son"). Added to the collection in this edition is "The Breakable Cup," the story of a very young boy and a very old woman who recognize the frailty in each other and form a bond across generations. In the longest of these stories, "Good-bye Son," the themes and settings of the earlier pieces come together in an extended psychological ghost story. Here, Sara McDermott, whose only child died at birth, is later visited by the boy on four separate occasions, each preceding a disaster in which he would have died as a child or young man. Sara's mingled joy and grief at each visit gradually give way to an understanding and acceptance of the place of death in nature and the bond that death creates among the living.

Janet Lewis

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