Loïc Bolduc—Isabelle D’Anjou

Loïc Bolduc and Isabelle D’Anjou are cousins whose connection links Loïc’s search into the D’Anjou family’s past with the family’s later generations. Their relationship is defined by a striking near-meeting in Varadero in 2003: they recognize one another, see each other again at a ceremony in Havana, and deliberately avoid an introduction. The cousinship is real, but in these scenes it remains largely unspoken; its clearest later effect is Isabelle’s role as the person who brings Loïc’s research to her nephew Mathieu.

Kinship and Shared Family History

The novel identifies Isabelle as Loïc’s cousin but does not specify the degree of their relationship. Their connection sits within the wider D’Anjou family history that Loïc is trying to reconstruct. Loïc was born to Marie-Ange D’Anjou and, after her death in childbirth, was adopted by Guillaume D’Anjou and Marie-Louise. Isabelle, meanwhile, belongs to the family through her father, a judge. The story thus places their cousinship amid overlapping forms of family belonging: birth, adoption, and the ties sustained across generations. It does not reduce their relation to a fully stated genealogical chart.

That family history is itself unsettled by a secret at its origin. The Founder had told Marthe that he was adopted, knew nothing of his birth family, and kept a valuable American stone hidden in his clothing because he feared it was malevolent. Much later, Loïc’s research into the Founder’s origins becomes a point of connection between the cousins’ branches. The family’s past is not simply inherited as settled knowledge; it is a puzzle that Loïc investigates and that Isabelle can help carry onward.

The Varadero Encounter

In March 2003, Loïc is in Varadero with Laurence, having gone south to escape the grey weather. At a nightclub, the dancer who catches his eye is Isabelle, the daughter of the judge and the wife of Roger Bolduc, who had disappeared in New York. The recognition is sudden, but Loïc does not immediately tell Laurence who the woman is. He hesitates over whether to approach his cousin, noticing that Isabelle seems to be enjoying the company of a younger Cuban man. He does not want to intrude on what may be her holiday romance, or to create discomfort for Laurence, who knows little about this branch of the family.

The next encounter takes place at a religious ceremony in Havana. Loïc spots Isabelle again, now with a white headscarf among the women attending. He believes she has seen him too: she turns her head, and both behave as though they have not recognized the other. Their mutual avoidance preserves the distance they had chosen at the nightclub. Each may regard the other’s companion as making a family encounter awkward; Loïc understands that Isabelle could judge his own situation in the same way. The scene makes kinship a silent recognition rather than an invitation to closeness.

Their coincidence also acquires a larger significance in the novel’s pattern of family and chance. The narration notes that three descendants of the Founder are in Havana that evening without knowing it, while the Founder’s cameo is nearby. Loïc and Isabelle do not meet to discuss either the family secret or the object. The reader, however, sees their proximity as part of the convergence of family histories that Loïc has been pursuing.

What Goes Unsaid

Loïc considers telling Isabelle about his brush with the cameo before returning home, but decides against it. The episode seems so improbable that he worries it would make him appear fanciful. He is particularly reluctant to further discredit himself in the eyes of Isabelle’s father, the judge. His silence is therefore not merely a missed opportunity for conversation: it reflects Loïc’s concern that an extraordinary family discovery could damage his standing within the family rather than persuade it.

This restraint distinguishes the cousins’ relationship from a direct partnership. The book shows recognition, mutual avoidance, and Loïc’s decision to withhold a startling story; it does not show them openly comparing accounts or collaborating during the Varadero trip. Their shared ancestry makes the encounter consequential, but does not dissolve the reserve between them.

A Later Link in the Investigation

At a funeral reception years later, Loïc is approached by Mathieu, Isabelle’s nephew and the son of Alain D’Anjou. Mathieu says that Isabelle has told him about Loïc’s research into the Founder’s origins. Loïc explains that he has reached an impasse and describes his proposal to use DNA analysis to test whether the D’Anjous descend from a French noble family. Mathieu sees a possible route forward: as Élie D’Anjou’s great-great-grandson, and as a lawyer, he believes he can approach the Castelmont family in France and arrange testing at his own expense.

Isabelle does not appear in this exchange, and the passage does not establish that she and Loïc have renewed their direct contact. Her contribution is quieter: she carries the knowledge of his work to another D’Anjou, whose interest may help turn a stalled investigation into a new inquiry. Their cousinship thus functions both as personal recognition and as a channel through which family knowledge travels. The Varadero encounter leaves them apart; the later conversation shows that, even without a reunion, the connection remains active.