The Green Shutters

Sin and green shutters: both entailed lots of unexpected consequences that weren’t easy to see at first glance . . .

In the twilight of his career, ‘The Great’ Emile Maugin, a once-celebrated actor, receives devastating news: he does not have long left to live. Hounded by rage, alcoholism and the memories of his fractured childhood, he sleepwalks through the sodden marshes of the Vendée and the stage doors and dimly-lit bars of postwar Paris. Yet, faintly visible on the horizon of his mind, stands a white house with green shutters and manicured lawns, whose inhabitants lead the ‘normal life’ that lies just beyond Maugin’s reach.

First published in 1950, The Green Shutters cuts to the heart of a desperate man, showcasing Simenon’s unparalleled ability to delve into the depths of the human soul and asking: what is left to us when time runs out?