The black and white photo of a little girl in a dark bathing suit, on a pebble beach. In the background, cliffs. She is sitting on a flat rock, her sturdy legs stretched straight out in front of her, her arms resting on the rock, her eyes closed, her head tilted slightly, smiling. A thick brown braid brought in front, the other left in the back. Everything reveals the desire to pose like the stars in CinÔemonde or the advertisement for Ambre Solaire, to escape from the humiliating and unimportant body of a little girl. The lighter thighs, as well as the upper arms, draw the shape of a dress and indicate the exceptional nature, for this child, of a stay or an outing to the sea. The beach is deserted. On the back: August 1949, Sotteville-sur-Mer.” Through photos and memories left by events, words and things, Annie Ernaux makes us feel the passing of the years, from the post-war period to today. At the same time, it inscribes existence in a new form of autobiography, impersonal and collective.