The Heurtevent family
A secretive timber merchant and his five children, connected to the neglected woods, an illegal trade in game, and a series of unverified accusations.
The family has no single stated goal. Old Heurtevent wants to profit from the timber and stolen game, while his children mainly remain private and avoid Michel’s questions.
The book
At a glance
- Old Heurtevent, a timber merchant and buyer of cut wood
- Three sons and two daughters; none are named
- About twenty, sixteen, and fifteen
- A Spanish woman who died twelve years before the story
- Timber work at La Morinière and the sale of poached game
Who they are in the book
Spoiler-freeOld Heurtevent is the timber merchant responsible for clearing part of the woods at La Morinière, Michel’s estate in Normandy. He buys the timber cheaply and delays removing it, even though the fallen branches are damaging new growth. He once traveled widely and married a Spanish woman, who has been dead for twelve years by the time of the story.
Heurtevent has five children: three sons and two daughters. The eldest son is about twenty, another son is sixteen and wants to become a priest, and the youngest is about fifteen. Michel describes the twenty-year-old and the fifteen-year-old as tall, lean, strong, and hard-featured. The daughters are not named, and the novel gives no ages or physical descriptions for them.
The family keeps its distance from Michel. The youngest son briefly fascinates him by singing an unfamiliar song from the top of a timber cart, but neither boy will speak to him. Bute later says that old Heurtevent buys stolen game and that the youngest son carries it between Alcide and his father. The poaching scheme gives Michel another reason to pursue a family that does not want his attention.
How the book draws them
- A negligent timber merchantOld Heurtevent delays clearing the cut wood until summer, allowing dead branches to damage the new shoots growing beneath them.
- Three sonsThe sons are about twenty, sixteen, and fifteen. The oldest and youngest are tall, lean, and hard-featured; the sixteen-year-old is described as physically delicate and preparing for the priesthood.
- The youngest son’s songMichel first notices the fifteen-year-old singing loudly from the top of a timber cart. The unfamiliar song reminds Michel of music he heard in North Africa.
- Closed to MichelThe sons appear proud and silent, and Michel cannot draw them into conversation. Their refusal makes him even more curious about the family.
Bute tells Michel that old Heurtevent beat his late wife, has an incestuous relationship with his eldest daughter, and fathered her two children. He also alleges that the eldest son tried to rape a servant while the father helped restrain her. These are extremely serious claims, but readers hear them only through Bute’s gossip as repeated by Michel. The novel never independently confirms them.
The poaching connection is more central to the plot. Bute says old Heurtevent receives the stolen animals and the fifteen-year-old son acts as the courier. Michel and Alcide later leave a roe-deer they have killed where the younger Heurtevent can collect it. Michel is less interested in stopping the crime than in gaining access to a family whose secrecy fascinates him.
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