The Wife of Martin Guerre

The Wife of Martin Guerre (first published 1941) is a short novel by American writer Janet Lewis based on the story of Martin Guerre, the 16th-century French peasant who apparently returned home to his wife after a long absence but was later revealed to be an impostor.

[1] The novel tells the tale from the point of view of Bertrande, Martin's wife, and turns on the compelling moral problem presented to her when a man—possibly an impostor—takes the place of her husband.

At the end of the novel, her husband, the real Martin, returns, and Bertrande has to make her moral decision: does she reveal that it is not the same man, thus subjecting herself to a lifetime of misery, or does she continue the lie?

She chooses the truth, yet the real Martin Guerre rejects her, saying, "Dry your tears, Madame.

Lewis adapted the novel into a three-act opera libretto for William Bergsma; the resulting work was premiered at the Juilliard School on February 15, 1956.