Geneviève

Geneviève is one of the main characters of the novel. In the narrative present, she has worked at the Salpêtrière for 20 years. When Geneviève was a girl, she was raised in the church. Although her younger sister Blandine was a believer, Geneviève always questioned the church. When she began to read her father’s medical texts, she found something new to believe in. Science and medicine became her faith and her god. These convictions strengthened after Blandine died when she was only 16 years old. Geneviève officially denounced God, and began devoting her life to helping others. She believed that working with the Salpêtrière let her contribute to the common good. She came to worship Charcot as another sort of god. She believed the girls she worked with at the hospital were also making important contributions to the progress of...