Summary

In Part 1, “The Delights of Solitude,” the narrator dons the identity Sadie Smith for her next assignment. She is a private investigator in Europe. She reads Bruno Lacombe’s emails to Pascal Balmy and the Moulinards, the members of Pascal’s commune in rural France. In the emails, Bruno talks about the differences between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. Afterwards, Sadie prepares for her meeting with Pascal, the leader of Le Moulin, his anarchist collective.

Sadie’s assignment is to determine if Le Moulin is planning something. She is supposed to read Bruno’s emails for hints at their plans. Six months prior, they sabotaged “the site of a massive industrial reservoir being built” near Tayssac and the authorities want to stop them from any other such protests (7). Because Bruno is anti-civilization and Pascal’s mentor, the Guyenne authorities suspect his fanatical beliefs are...