Audoux's first novel is the most autobiographical of the four. She describes her childhood and adolescence, inculding the story of her mother's death, her father's departure, and the nine years she spent in the orphanage of the convent Hôpital Général de Bourges. The second part of the novel takes place on the farm in Villevielle where Marie-Claire's first employers Master Sylvain and Pauline surround the young shepardess with good-hearted affection. In the third part, Marie-Claire, now a young woman, falls in love with Henri Deslois, the brother of the farmer's wife who followed Pauline. The young man's mother forbids Marie-Claire to see her son again. Marie-Claire returns to the convent before leaving for Paris.