Sylish, shimmering and amoral, Sagan's tale of
adolescence and betrayal on the French Riviera was her
masterpiece, published when she was just eighteen.
However, this frank and explicit novella was considered
too daring for 1950s Britain, and sexual scenes were
removed for the English publication. Now this fresh and
accurate new translation presents the uncensored text in
full for the first time. Bonjour Tristesse
tells the story of Cécile, who leads a carefree life
with her widowed father and his young mistresses until,
one hot summer on the Riviera, he decides to remarry -
with devastating consequences. In A Certain
Smile, which is also included in this volume,
Dominique, a young woman bored with her lover, begins an
encounter with an older man that unfolds in unexpected
and troubling ways. Both novellas have been freshly
translated by Heather Lloyd and include an introduction
by Rachel Cusk. Heather Lloyd has also written a new
afterword for this edition. Françoise Sagan was born
in France in 1935. Bonjour tristesse (1954),
published when she was just 19, became a succès de
scandale and even earned its author a papal
denunciation. Sagan went on to write many other novels,
plays and screenplays, and died in 2004. Heather
Lloyd was previously Senior Lecturer in French at the
University of Glasgow, and has published work on both
Bonjour tristesse and Françoise Sagan. Rachel
Cusk is the author of Saving Agnes (1993), which
won the Whitbread First Novel Award; A Life's Work:
On Becoming a Mother (2001); and Arlington Park
(2006), shortlisted for the 2007 Orange Prize for
Fiction. Her most recent book is Aftermath: On
Marriage and Separation (2012). 'Funny,
thoroughly immoral and thoroughly French' The
Times
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