The Confessional

This is straight fiction Simenon, in a masterful unwrapping of a sixteen-year-old boy from the long half-sleep of childhood. Andre Bar would rather not hear, but each of his parents insists on telling him one side of their dismal but continuing marriage. Coming just as he’s begun to fall in love for the first time and wants to believe in the security of simply motivated affection, the disclosure is particularly unwelcome; he thrusts it away, preserving some breathing space for himself and his very honest, likeable girl. A short, affecting psychological study developed entirely in terms of Andre’s reactions.

(Kirkus review)