A Certain Smile Author:Francoise Sagan (Translated from the French by Anne Green) — Francoise Sagan's second novel, written at twenty, is an even more perceptive and brilliant book than her astonishing bestseller, Bonjour Tristesse. The story of a love affair between a young girl and an older married man, this second, more mature novel is all that her delighted public could hope for--... more »and more.
When Dominique, a gay amoral young student, first meets Luc, she says to herself: "He is the kind of man who seduces young girls like me." And so it happens--despite her own lover, who is Luc's nephew, and Luc's wife, who is a warm and gracious friend to her. Through spring nights in Paris cafes and weekends in the country, the fatal attraction grows, but it is not until late in the summer that they manage to go away together. Then under the waning September sun of the Riviera, they spend two weeks at a Cannes hotel.
Francoise Sagan handles this love affair and its aftermath with Gallic irony and acute feminine understanding.« less