Dr Wiktoria Okołowicz, Lecturer at the University of Gdańsk, on a year’s study leave in Paris, had found a small and affordable flat up under the eaves in the rue Jouye Rouve with a view from her bedroom of the Parc de Belleville. She was writing a book on the Paris Commune, dealing particularly with the women, their active shaping of it, what they wished it to do, and what it was stopped from doing, for women’s lives. So: a study of what women gave and desired and of their struggle, defeat and disappointment. The material of this subject has been greatly increased by research in recent years, and day by day with a passionate confidence Dr Okołowicz was realizing her idea of it, her hopes in it.

She had quickly discovered a network of helpful scholarship: other women and men working from a variety of points of view on subjects more or less connected with her own. She had sociable meetings in cafés and bars; one or other of the universities and colleges hosted a fortnightly seminar; she felt herself to be creatively in touch; and when she emailed home they could tell she was happy.

There are such phases of life, if you are lucky. Days, months, when everything seems to assist in the shaping of your self. A purpose clarifies, it attracts what will further its development and flowering. Glorious, such a making! And, if you are lucky, it will be a measure, an orientation, all your life long. It will have settled in you, as a capacity for faith and trust. And this achievement is far removed from selfishness or being self-satisfied. A person living as Dr Okołowicz was living during her first months in Paris will quite unconsciously, never giving it a thought, encourage others.