In the late 1850s, Celina, a young girl aged fifteen, takes up work as a maid for the Hugo family in Guernsey. There she encounters the delicate balance between the professional and the personal, and the obligations upon her as her livelihood is at stake. Celina navigates a life of hardship and loss, but not without crucial moments of pleasure and pride. In a voice full of the innocence of youth, yet studded with fine observations about her surroundings, her perspective offers a nuanced, potentially challenging portrait of the man and the artist. Axelrad's fictional account is based on cryptic notes found in Hugo's diaries as well as letters from his wife.
