The Image of Her

She’s living a perfect life – so why does Laurence feel so torn? Weekends in the country, weekdays in Paris – Laurence’s life features all the trappings of 1960s French bourgeoisie. She has money, a handsome husband, two daughters and a lover. She also has a successful career as an advertising copywriter, though her mind writes copy while she’s at home, and dreams of domesticity in the office. All her life she has strived to meet the expectations of others. But when her 10-year-old daughter, Catherine, starts to vocalise her despair about the unfairness of the world, Laurence must finally grapple with a life that prizes image over truth. Slim but powerful, this is a classic story of womanhood and its oppressors, parents and their children, and the quest for personal truth – by the iconic feminist Simone de Beauvoir. 'The best book I've read so far this year' The Times 'Beautifully written, what surprises is how very modern this feminist rite of passage feels' Daily Mail ‘A lethally moving portrait of female alienation and resistance’ Adam Thirlwell TRANSLATED BY LAUREN ELKIN Praise for The Inseparables : ‘Passionate and tragic’ Vanity Fair ‘A ravishing work of art’ Financial Times ‘Slim, elegant, achingly tragic and unaffectedly lovely in its evocation of the closeness between girls – and the pressures that sunder them’ Spectator ‘In Lauren Elkin's fine translation, the lucid, sculpted prose can flare into starbursts of introspective sensuality... Beauvoir could write like a dutiful daughter of the French classics’ The Times

She’s living a perfect life – so why does Laurence feel so torn? Weekends in the country, weekdays in Paris – Laurence’s life features all the trappings of 1960s French bourgeoisie. She has money, a handsome husband, two daughters and a lover. She also has a successful career as an advertising copywriter, though her mind writes copy while she’s at home, and dreams of domesticity in the office. All her life she has strived to meet the expectations of others. But when her 10-year-old daughter, Catherine, starts to vocalise her despair about the unfairness of the world, Laurence must finally grapple with a life that prizes image over truth. Slim but powerful, this is a classic story of womanhood and its oppressors, parents and their children, and the quest for personal truth – by the iconic feminist Simone de Beauvoir. 'The best book I've read so far this year' The Times 'Beautifully written, what surprises is how very modern this feminist rite of passage feels' Daily Mail ‘A lethally moving portrait of female alienation and resistance’ Adam Thirlwell TRANSLATED BY LAUREN ELKIN Praise for The Inseparables : ‘Passionate and tragic’ Vanity Fair ‘A ravishing work of art’ Financial Times ‘Slim, elegant, achingly tragic and unaffectedly lovely in its evocation of the closeness between girls – and the pressures that sunder them’ Spectator ‘In Lauren Elkin's fine translation, the lucid, sculpted prose can flare into starbursts of introspective sensuality... Beauvoir could write like a dutiful daughter of the French classics’ The Times

Laurence is a woman who appears to live an ideal life. Weekends in the country, weekdays in Paris – her life features all the trappings of 1960s French bourgeoisie. She has money, a handsome husband, two daughters and a lover. She also has a successful career as an advertising copywriter, though her mind unbidden writes copy while she’s at home, and dreams of domesticity in the office. But Laurence is a woman whose experience of life has always been overwritten by the expectation of perfection. It is only when her 10-year-old daughter, Catherine, starts to vocalise her despair about the unfairness of the world that Laurence begins to act, finally grappling with a life that prizes image over truth. TRANSLATED BY LAUREN ELKIN

Laurence is a woman who appears to live an ideal life. Weekends in the country, weekdays in Paris – her life features all the trappings of 1960s French bourgeoisie. She has money, a handsome husband, two daughters and a lover. She also has a successful career as an advertising copywriter, though her mind unbidden writes copy while she’s at home, and dreams of domesticity in the office. But Laurence is a woman whose experience of life has always been overwritten by the expectation of perfection. It is only when her 10-year-old daughter, Catherine, starts to vocalise her despair about the unfairness of the world that Laurence begins to act, finally grappling with a life that prizes image over truth. TRANSLATED BY LAUREN ELKIN