The Neversink Library champions books from around the world that have been overlooked, under appreciated, looked askance at, or foolishly ignored. In the tense environment of the wartime city, their love takes on a desperation transcending their youthfulness.Īnd as the badly-kept secret of their relationship unfolds, scandal descends, leading the story to a final, startling conclusion - and causing the book itself to become a scandal when it was first published in 1923, just before the author’s death at the age of 20. What seems to begin as a charming tale of puppy love quickly darkens, and they launch into a steamy affair. Set in Paris during the First World War, it tells the story of Francois, the 16-year-old narrator, who falls in love with Marthe, an older, married woman whose husband is off fighting at the front. Long unavailable in the U.S., it is here presented in a sparkling new translation. Hailed by Jean Cocteau as a “masterpiece,” and by the Guardian as “Bret Easton Ellis’s Less Than Zero, avant la lettre,” this taut tale written by a teenager in the form of a frank “confession” is a gem of early twentieth century romanticism.
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