#RivetingReviews: Barry Forshaw reviews THE CAT by Georges Simenon, translated by Ros Schwarz

The term ‘roman dur’, which was used by Georges Simenon himself to refer to all those novels that he regarded as his specifically literary works, is difficult to render precisely in English. This is because its meaning in French is also not precise. Simply calling them Simenon’s ‘serious’ novels is clearly inadequate, because it suggests that there must be something ‘unserious’ about the Maigret novels – demonstrably not the case. The word ‘roman’ translates easily enough as ‘novel’, but of the various possible meanings of ‘dur’ (‘hard’, ‘tough’, ‘heavy’, ‘hard-going’, ‘harrowing’, and more), one term alone is not suitable to describe all the Simenon novels. What the author was probably trying to suggest is that these novels reflect disturbing aspects of life in a frank and unflinching way. As he was using a term that he had coined, it seems wisest to retain the French expression. There are precedents enough in the field of appreciation of the arts (‘film noir,’ ‘art nouveau,’ ‘montage’). So ‘roman dur’ it is.

But it’s time to talk about one of the most elusive and slippery entries in this area – ‘slippery’ in the sense that a certain application is needed on the part of the reader to allow the subtlety of the book to register. Penguin continues to do impeccable service to the legacy of Simenon with The Cat, expertly translated by Ros Schwartz; the latter’s work eclipses every earlier version of this 1967 classic. Émile and Marguerite are a mature Parisian couple who no longer talk, their mutual antipathy exacerbated by the death of Émile’s much loved cat and Marguerite’s parrot. What results is a terrifying battle of wills. No one is better than Simenon at showing how banal domestic conflict can lead to murderous catastrophe, and this is one of his most authoritative (if oblique) non-Maigret romans durs.

Reviewed by Barry Forshaw

THE CAT

Written by Georges Simenon

Translated from the French by Ros Schwarz

Published by Penguin (2025)

December 2025 #RivetingReviews titles are available to buy from bookshop.org.

Barry Forshaw’s books include Crime Fiction: A Reader’s Guide, Simenon, the Keating Award-winning Brit Noir and Euro Noir. Other work: Nordic Noir, Death in a Cold Climate, Sex and Film and the British Crime Writing encyclopedia (also a Keating Award winner). He edits Crime Time (www.crimetime.co.uk).

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