Continuing the work he began following the death of his father, in Returning to Reims (Nisos, 2020), Didier Eribon in this new book deals with "the life, old age, and death" of his mother, a "woman of the people," as the title eloquently states, one of those whose individual stories are "rarely told."

The author reconstructs here the life of his mother in all its facets: from the time she was a housemaid, cleaner, and later a factory worker, to her retirement years, her gradual physical decline, and her admission to a nursing home.

His intention, as he mentions, is not to sketch a "scrupulous" portrait: the elegiac tone intricately alternates with a sober account that engages with numerous works from the fields of literature, sociology, and philosophy.

As Eribon recounts his mother’s declining journey toward the end, he simultaneously raises crucial questions about our relationship with the elderly, about the elderly's relationship with time and death, and about living conditions in care facilities.

Ultimately, old age in this book becomes a springboard for a political perspective. Eribon analyzes the experience of aging in the light of its exclusion from Western philosophy, leading to a series of questions articulated in genuinely political terms: Can the elderly "speak"? Can they become subjects of a political discourse articulated in the first-person plural, as an "us"? And if this is not feasible, then what must we do to ensure their voices are heard?