Lena

Lena lives with her husband Carlos on a little farmstead just outside Fern River. She is in her late 50s, retired, and spends her days painting, sunbathing, volunteering and visiting with friends.

Lena worked for many years as a fine arts instructor at the local college, where she taught drawing and painting. Her time there didn’t overlap with Luc, although she has known his parents and aunt Margot since moving to the city 30-odd years ago. Her favorite subject to teach was life drawing, when she’d bring in friends and alumni as models to sit for the students to draw.

Now, in retirement, she practices mainly as a painter, and asks friends to sit frequently as models in her comfortable, sunlit studio situated in the corner of the garden. Her body of work is certainly the largest collection of nude Fern River residents that exists — practically a directory of perceptively rendered naked forms.

She is a lifelong nudist, going back as far as she can remember with her family, and is most at ease wearing very little or nothing. She and Carlos are often naked around the house and garden, and they both enjoy frequent visits to the Wellness Center and Heather Beach. She is close friends with Tati, and drops in on her often at Hazel Grove, which is a short bike ride away.

Her given name is Madeleine-Jolie, but she has gone by Lena since she was a girl. When people call her Madeleine-Jolie, she is transported right back to childhood summers spent on her grandmother’s farm near Béziers.