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| J'ai Lu 1984, Babette |
One: Mirenburg:
- Sometime after WW I, an old German nobleman named Rickhardt von Bek is cared for by his manservant Papadakis. Nearing death, Rickardt writes a memoir describing his time in Mirenburg (once the renowned capitol of Waldenstein, near Germany and Austria). Mirenburg had once been characterized as a "quintessential representation of a Renaissance which is at work everywhere in modern Europe".
- After painting an intimate portrait of the colorful people, culture, trade and architecture of the city, von Bek reminisces on his sexual relationship with Alexandra, a 16-year-old girl whom he had brought there at the end of 1897, and who had inspired him with her sexual precociousness, youthful energy and unreserved naivete.
- One day, the worldly von Bek decides to introduce Alexandra to the pleasures found at the famous brothel in Rosentrasse (a street in the center of Mirenburg).
- Frau Schmetterling runs the brothel, where elite clients are required to dress in formal attire. Amongst her staff are her partner, "Mister", and a cook named Ulric.
- Von
Bek and Alexandra engage the services of whore named Therese. While
Alexandra remains with Therese, von Bek has dinner in the salon below and runs into
Princess Poliakoff and her son Dimitri. Von Bek hides Alexandra's true identity in order to prevent scandal.
- The next day, von Bek and Alexandra spend some time in the city, which is emptying out due to fears of a civil war (a coup engineered by Count Holzhammer against Waldenstein's ruling Prince). That night, they return for another night with Therese. Von Bek regales the women with a story in which he had once paid handsomely to deflower a willing young girl in Naples.
- Later in the salon, von Bek meets the womanizing Czech balloonist Rudolph Stefanik, and they debate about the coming conflict in Mirenburg. Von Bek also flirts with another of the brothel's courtesans named Clare, as well as Princess Poliakoff's intriguing lesbian partner Lady Diana Cromach.
- The next day is spent shopping for clothes for Alexandra, but fears of the coming conflict have emptied out the streets of Mirenburg.
- That night at the brothel, von Bek and Alexandra are attended by Clara (later nicknamed "Rose") who provides them with cocaine and canes them.
- Later, Frau Schmetterling expresses worry over the political situation, but von Bek reassures her. However, the next morning von Bek is surprised when he sees Count Holzhammer's forces bombarding the city from without. The shelling stops at noon, presumably under a truce. However, it soon resumes and over the next several days conditions in Mirenburg deteriorate.
- Eventually, von Bek begins to feel that his hotel (the Liverpool) has become too close to the shelling, and takes up Frau Schmetterling's offer of a room at the brothel in Rosenstrasse (located in the center of the city). Alexandra is also invited, although there is some risk to her reputation if she is discovered staying at the brothel.
- After the bombardment stops, Mirenburg enters a state of siege. Because Alexandra is kept away from the other guests, she begins to feel trapped and resentful towards von Bek. Von Bek soon relents and brings her to the evening salon party as his "cousin", Countess Alice. The guests engage in gossip and conjecture about the siege and each others' private lives.
- Alexandra attracts the interest of Lady Cromach, which pleases von Bek, who hopes to win his way to the LadyDiana through Alexandra. However, Lady Cromach's lover Princess Poliakoff becomes angry at their pairing. Frau Schmetterling orders von Bek to settle the matter with his troublesome young lover. Instead, von Bek beds Lady Diana, and ultimately maintains relations with Clara, Alice, Rose and Diana, while Princess Poliakoff storms off to another hotel alone.
- In the following months, the siege continues and conditions in Mirenburg worsen (primarily due to starvation), despite Frau Schmetterling's best efforts to maintain a facade of normalcy. Some people in the city begin setting fire to the buildings in a frenzy to deny the invaders their victory spoils.
- Eventually, Alice's emotional demeanor begins to crack. While deceiving Clara and Diana, she begs von Bek to take her out of the city. When the bombardment begins again she threatens to leave von Bek as well, but back at the brothel, she merely becomes disconsolate. More buildings in Mirenburg are soon destroyed by the resumption of cannon-fire.
- As von Bek makes plans for an escape through the sewers, a local military force under Captain Kolovrat commandeers the brothel. That night, von Bek waits for Alice to meet him at a rendezvous in the city, but is stunned when Clara instead appears, and tells him that Alice and Diana have already left the city, presumably with Stefanik in his balloon. Heartbroken, von Bek leaves the city using the sewer accompanied by Clara and Frau Schmetterling's daughter.
- Shortly after von Bek's escape, Mirenburg is burned to the ground and Holzhammer becomes governor (he eventually remakes the city into an industrial village of warehouses).
- After making his way back to his family grounds in Germany, von Bek and Clara reintegrate into Berlin society and von Bek writes a fictionalized account of his experiences in the book The 100 Day Siege: A Personal Record of the Last Months of Mirenburg. Clara eventually leaves von Bek who continues in vain to search for Alice.
