Oscar and the Lady in Pink (novel)

Oscar, a ten-year-old boy, lives in a children's hospital, with volunteer nurses called "Pink Ladies" and Mamie-Rose, being the oldest Pink Lady. She is retired but still actively volunteering with this group. After a failed bone marrow transplant, he thinks he is doomed. He talks about his future death to his family and staff. All turn a deaf ear to the word "death" with the exception of Mamie-Rose, formerly called "Strangler of Languedoc" thanks to her skills as a wrestler, which she confirms that he will die. Mamie-Rose then proposes to write letters to God by writing a wish of "feeling" every day. The next day, Oscar's parents come to the hospital and learn from Doctor Düsseldorf that Oscar is indeed sentenced and that he will die in 12 days. They do not even want to kiss their son. Oscar, who overheard this conversation, is furious and calls them "cowards". He does not want to see his parents anymore. At the end of the day, Mamie-Rose comes to visit Oscar and tells him that she has been allowed to visit him for the next 12 days. She invents a game that will allow him to enjoy her life at any age: every day for him will have a duration of 10 years. Oscar accepts and asks in his letter to God to visit him. During his "adolescence" (the next day), Oscar admits to Mamie-Rose that he really likes a girl named Peggy Blue.

Will Oscar confess his feelings? Will he reconcile with his parents?

The book explains his passage from atheism to belief, and from selfishness to altruism.

In the first letter, Oscar presents Mamie-Rose: she was, she says, a wrestler named "Strangler of Languedoc". Now she is incredibly old, too much to work as a Pink Lady. Unlike the rest of the hospital staff, Mamie-Rose does not try to deny that Oscar has only a short time to live so she can talk to him about his death with her.

As Oscar is sick, his parents visit him only on Sunday. One day, his parents come to the hospital, on a day that isn't Sunday, as usual, and instead of visiting him, without even greeting Oscar, they talk to Dr. Düsseldorf, who tells them that the death of Oscar is inevitable. His parents are so depressed to go see him after learning that there is no chance to save him. Unfortunately, by hiding behind the door, Oscar has secretly heard the conversation and is disappointed by his parents, whom he calls cowardly. Later, he talks to Mamie-Rose about his problems with his parents and tells her that he hates them. In addition, Oscar asks her to come and see him every day and she actually gets permission to do so. To help Oscar enjoy the rest of his life, Mamie-Rose invents a game: from this day, every day counts for ten years; in this way, he has the opportunity to experience all stages of life. He does this during the last twelve days of the year.

During his adolescence, he falls in love with Peggy Blue, a girl who has a blood problem that makes her all blue. Oscar makes the decision to protect her from the ghosts, but Popcorn, jealous, says Peggy Blue is his and tells Oscar to "take" Sandrine, which she is really interested in Oscar. He goes to see Sandrine and she kisses him just as his parents arrive. But Oscar does not want to see them and he ignores them while listening to music: Nutcracker.

After their visit, Mamie-Rose gives him the courage to tell Peggy that he finds her beautiful by saying that Popcorn "bluffs". Oscar and Peggy end up kissing each other and he asks God to marry her.

At age thirty, Oscar marries Peggy. During the night Oscar hears noises and thinks there are ghosts who are torturing Peggy so he gets up to see if it's her screaming. It's Bacon, a burnt kid screaming because of his burns. Finally, Peggy allows Oscar to sleep with her, but the medical staff do not agree. They must be sanctioned at night due to their illnesses. Fortunately, Mamie-Rose arrives to defend the children. Mamie-Rose brings Oscar to the chapel to show him that death must not be a moral suffering. In addition, he asks God that Peggy's operation is going well.

Peggy Blue is operated on this day. The operation is successful, the doctors say that over the days it will become more and more pink. Then Oscar meets his in-laws, whom he treats with great respect. Finally, when they leave, they entrust their daughter. That day is a family day, Oscar sympathizes with his in-laws and he adopts Mamie-Rose, as he did with Bernard, his teddy bear. At the end of this day, he is 40 years old.

When the "Chinese" (Sandrine) tells Popcorn that she and Oscar have kissed, Popcorn reports it to Peggy who breaks up with Oscar although he tries to defend himself. Brigitte, a child with Down syndrome, comes to his room and kisses him. The whole floor treats him of cavalry because of that. But Oscar still loves Peggy and Mamie-Rose is trying to give him courage. At the end of the day, he is 50 years old.

On Christmas Day, Oscar is reconciled with Peggy Blue, but as his parents come to celebrate Christmas with him, he can not stay with her. At the thought of having to spend this evening with his parents who will offer him a lot of gifts, he organizes his fugue. After bartering with Einstein, Bacon and Popcorn, they agree to help him hide in Mamie-Rose's car. When he rings at his door after a nap in the car, she is surprised and she persuades him to phone his parents who seek him. Then, they spend a merry Christmas together. Mamie-Rose even offers a small statue of the Virgin because she thinks she looks like Peggy. At Mamie-Rose's request, they watch Midnight Mass on television and also a wrestling match she recorded. That day, Oscar learns that his parents have forgotten that they are doomed to die too. This confidence improves the relationship between the child and his parents.

From age 70 to 80, Oscar spends time thinking. Of course, Mamie-Rose helps him think. Finally Oscar takes the debt of Dr. Düsseldorf who has feelings of guilt because he can not cure him. Then comes a difficult time that begins for him, because Peggy's operation is successful and she goes home with her parents.

Finally Oscar receives the visit of God at dawn, when he repels the night. At that moment, Oscar understands the difference between God and men: God is tireless and men are never tired. In addition, God tells him his secret: "to look at the world every day as if it were the first time" and Oscar follows his advice.

At one hundred years old, he tries to explain to his parents that life is a strange gift. At first, we overestimate her and we believe that we will live forever, then we underestimate her and find her rotten and too short and finally we learn that she is not a gift, but just a loan, so we need we appreciate it.

Oscar is one hundred and ten years old, and admits, "I think I'm starting to die". This is the last letter he writes. He dies at the end of this letter.

This time it's Mamie-Rose who is writing instead of Oscar. She tells God that Oscar died and died while his family went to have coffee. He did that while they were there to avoid the violence of that moment. She says she can not compare her grief with the insurmountable one of Oscar's parents. At the end of the letter, she says that he had deposited the word on his table for three days: "Only God has the right to wake me up". He becomes a believer in God.

• Éric Emmanuel Schmitt, Oscar and the Pink Lady, Paris, ed. Albin Michel, October 29, 2002, 100 p., 13 cm × 20 cm (ISBN 2-226-13502-2)

• Eric Emmanuel Schmitt, Oscar and the Pink Lady, Paris, Naive Books, April 15, 2005 (ISBN 2-35021-004-9)
  • Full Text ; narrator: Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt; support: 2 MP3 audio compact discs; duration: approximately 2 h 0 min;
• Eric Emmanuel Schmitt, Oscar and the Pink Lady, Paris, Audiolib, October 11, 2017 (ISBN 978-2-367-62448-8)
  • Full Text ; narrator: Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt; support: 2 MP3 audio compact discs; duration: approximately 2 h 46 min;

• Eric Emmanuel Schmitt, Oscar and the Pink Lady, Paris, Magnard, coll. "Classics & Contemporaries" (no. 79), May 10, 2006, 120 p. (ISBN 978-2-210-75490-4)