Scarlett et Philippe Reliquet's Memoir of Caring for Their Daughter Garance

Scarlett and Philippe Reliquet have published a memoir, "Écouter Haendel," chronicling their decade-long experience raising their daughter Garance, who has an undiagnosed condition that defies medical classification. The book, reviewed by Jacques Henric in artpress, recounts Garance's obsessive demand to listen to a Handel opera aria, her unique perception of the world where boundaries between life and death, humans and animals, animate and inanimate do not exist, and her reliance on touch and sensation over symbolic understanding. The Reliquets kept a near-daily journal of Garance's hopeful and feared evolution, documenting her words, behaviors, violence, joy, and love for parents, relatives, strangers, animals, the dead (still alive to her), and even objects. The memoir concludes with the line "Il faut imaginer Garance heureuse" (One must imagine Garance happy), offering a poignant reflection on how her "handicap" illuminates the human condition for those considered "normal." The review emphasizes the book's emotional restraint and its avoidance of aestheticizing illness, while acknowledging the strange force that inhabits Garance, reminiscent of great poetry.