By Liz Soares
This is the kind of book that, by its description, may sound “charming.” But while it includes such cozy ingredients as a foundling, a town busybody, and a gentle clergyman, The Cleaner of Chartres is too wise and multi-layered to be reduced to that summation.
Agnès is our title cleaner, both the physical caretaker of the famed cathedral of Notre-Dame, as well as a catalyst who changes the lives of her neighbors. The church and the ancient town, too, have their roles to play. Chartes is, after all, a place of pilgrimage as well as a tourist attraction, an ideal setting for both those who seek solace and those who seek anonymity.
Agnès comes looking for both. She was left in the woods as a newborn, and the farmer who found her brought her to be raised by the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in a convent in Evreux. Though far from an ideal childhood, it was not cruel or onerous, marred only by Agnès’ inability to learn to read. But when she reaches adolescence, she is raped --and becomes pregnant. The nuns take the child from her and he is adopted. This loss haunts Agnès for the rest of her life.
She finds a quiet and satisfying life in the cathedral town, taking her job seriously, enjoying time spent with one friend, and posing for a local artist. But Agnès’ aloof and solitary demeanor draw people to her; they are curious about her, and they want to know more.
There is the sweet, philosophical Abbé Paul, who finds Agnès asleep in the cathedral and gives her a job. Professor Jones is a lonely Welshman who needs to have his papers sorted. Agnès succeeds in the task, despite her illiteracy, and he returns the favor by teaching her to read, using The Secret Garden as their text.
Madame Beck, who spends most of her time “discussing, in detail, with Madame Picot the domestic affairs of Chartres,” employs Agnès as a housecleaner simply to spy on her. In the backstory, Agnès’ psychiatrist, Dr. Deman, struggles to help her become whole after the loss of her baby. Monsieur Dupère, the old farmer who found her as an infant, takes her in to help her recover.
A series of incidents send Agnès’ world reeling. An antique doll is broken and Madame Picot’s old Pekinese, Piaf, goes missing. A young woman whom Agnès once babysat returns to town, with a baby of her own. Sisters Véronique and Laurence come from Evreux for a visit. And Agnès meets a handsome and engaging craftsman who is at work repairing the cathedral.
Agnès is both admirable and maddening. She does not seek glory, or even happiness. She wants to know the truth—of who she is, where she came from, and what happened to her baby. She wants to live an honest life. But all she has to go on is a single turquoise earring that Monsieur Dupère found lying next to her in the basket left in his woods.
In the end, though, Agnès does find joy, and the reader learns the truth. Charming, yes; but also so much more.
