Part 2, Dolce: Chapters 17, 18 and 19 Summary

The Germans are requisitioning horses from the villagers and farmers. They have already taken their bread, flour, potatoes, petrol, and cars, and now they want horses for half the going price.

Lucile would like to be free of everything except her time with Bruno; she wants the freedom to decide her own future. Her true self is emerging, but the taboos and the will of her mother-in-law (and everyone else) do still affect her, as she questions her own feelings. Even playing the piano is interpreted as disrespectful to her husband. She and Bruno are in love, but do not even kiss. Bruno is an expert at waiting patiently, and she now waits for him, wanting to tell him how she feels about him.

In Chapter 18, Madeleine Sabarie comes to Lucile and tells her the Germans came...