Nous étions deux is Artagan’s personal story about two brothers facing family separation, a difficult childhood and the silence of adults. It explores brotherhood as a refuge, rejection, bullying, family memory and the question of what one generation passes on to the next.

Key takeaways

A personal story focused on two brothers and family separation.
Themes include difficult childhood, rejection, bullying and adult silence.
The book explores brotherhood, family memory and transmission.
Related thematic articles guide readers toward the book and its print or ebook purchasing options.

A narrative by Artagan

Nous étions deux

Name: Nous étions deux
Author: Artagan

Two brothers. A childhood marked by rejection. Then the silence of adults, institutional violence and, years later, the loss of a family inheritance built over several generations.

An intimate narrative about brotherhood, memory and the place some people seek to deny children even within their own history.

Read the ebook now — €6.99 Order the paperback — €12 Enter the story

The narrative

A childhood together, followed by the ordeal of solitude

In northern France, two brothers grow up feeling that they were never truly granted a full place. The “folding seat” becomes the symbol of a tolerated, fragile presence that could always be withdrawn.

When the family no longer protects, the bond between two brothers can become the last refuge.

Brotherhood

Two children united by what they understand without always being able to say it.

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Silence

Adults who know, yet look away when a child asks for protection.

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Inheritance

A family legacy transformed into an instrument of exclusion and rupture.

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First passage

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce: alone before the institution

At Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, the narrator is no longer with his brother. He is in his first year of secondary school, alone at boarding school. Supervisors and teachers responsible for protecting him know about the persecution, mockery and violence. Some laugh. Others see what is happening and do nothing.

At twelve, the narrator walks through the boarding school gates alone. Far from any family refuge, he discovers a world ruled by fear, physical violence and psychological abuse, with no adult willing to hear him or protect him.

First day at Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, a boy left alone outside the boarding school — The first day: his mother leaves him outside the school.

Boy alone outside the entrance to Notre-Dame-de-Grâce — Alone before the institution, carrying nothing but his anxiety.

A deeply sad boy sitting alone on his boarding-school bed — In the dormitory, loneliness becomes an entire world.

Mockery and bullying in the courtyard of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce — Mockery in the courtyard, beneath the gaze of adults who do not protect him.

A boy subjected to school violence in the boarding-school courtyard — Violence becomes a daily occurrence and the victim remains abandoned.

Supervisors passively witnessing school violence — Supervisors laugh and teachers walk past: no one intervenes.

A boy going to ask a supervisor for help — Yet he still tries to speak to the supervisor.

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Second passage

Adults, yet still dispossessed of their history

Years pass. In the kitchen of a flat, the two brothers learn that the assets built by their ancestors, grandparents and great-uncle will benefit their stepmother. Their father used a spousal gift to arrange this transfer. In the narrative, this is not merely the loss of property: the children feel expelled from their own family heritage.

The stepmother boasts about the resources she will have. At the funeral, she is already delighted by the comfortable life awaiting her. Then a call from the notary adds one final absurdity: the children will also have to bear the cost of work she chooses to commission.

Two adult brothers learning in a modern kitchen that they have been disinherited — The announcement comes in the kitchen: “You have been disinherited. You will receive nothing.”

Stepmother boasting that she has secured the family inheritance — Marriage presented as spoils: the dark humour of a family robbery without masks.

Stepmother discussing the inheritance accumulated over several generations — What several generations built is now “in her pocket”.

Loss of inheritance and symbolic erasure of family ties — Beyond the property lies a symbolic erasure of family ties.

The notary calling to tell the brothers they must pay for building work — The notary’s call: even after being dispossessed, the children will still have to pay.

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A confiscated family legacy

The children do not merely lose financial value. They watch everything generations spent their lives building disappear: property, memory and material proof of belonging. The inheritance no longer transmits or protects. It becomes a means of punishment, exclusion and harm, including towards a son living with a disability.

Film · Television · Streaming

A story for the screen

Through brotherhood, bullying, institutional violence, adult silence, mental health and family inheritance, Nous étions deux contains the substance of a film, television film or socially engaged limited series.

Discuss adaptation rights Contact Artagan

The book

Enter the story of two brothers

Nous étions deux tells of what remains when protection, justice and inheritance have failed: a memory, a voice and the refusal to disappear.

Read the ebook — €6.99 Paperback — €12

Author: Artagan · Paperback: ISBN 9782387133823 · Ebook: ISBN 9782387134547

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