Duo and Le toutounier: Two novels

These linked novels have been rated among the finest of Colette's work. Duo is the story of Alice and Michel, whose marriage is foundering due to Alice's infidelity. In Le Toutounier, Alice has moved to Paris after Michel's death. There she and her two sisters live in a shabby apartment; fiercely independent, reticent, and hard-working, they speak a private language and seek comfort in the indestructible sofa (toutounier) of their childhood.