Set in French-occupied Indochina during the 1930s, it recounts an illicit love affair between an adolescent school girl and the suave son of a rich Chinese businessman. Duras claimed it to be autobiographical. Perhaps. No matter it is lyrical, erotic, precocious, evocative. Secreted in a small room, traffic noises creeping through the shutters, this unlikely couple indulge themselves in forbidden love. A slender finally-crafted jewel.
A sensational international bestseller, and winner of Frances' coveted Prix Goncourt, 'The Lover' is an unforgettable portrayal of the incandescent relationship between two lovers, and of the hate that slowly tears the girl's family apart. Saigon, 1930s: a poor young French girl meets the elegant son of a wealthy Chinese family. Soon they are lovers, locked into a private world of passion and intensity that defies all the conventions of their society. A sensational international bestseller, 'The Lover' is disturbing, erotic, masterly. Here is an unforgettable portrayal of the incandescent relationship between the lovers, and of the hate that slowly tears the girl's family apart.
'Rarely have I read a novel so flawlessly written.' Spectator
'Very beautiful, highly intelligent, enjoyable and original.' Sunday Times
'Perfect, a tour de force !accessible in the way Thomas Mann's Death in Venice or D.M. Thomas's The White Hotel are accessible!dealing successfully with the strong themes of erotic love and death.' New York Times Book Review
'A spectacular success.' Edmund White
Author
About Marguerite Duras
Marguerite Duras was one of Europe's most distinguished writers. The author of many novels and screenplays, she is perhaps best known outside France for her filmscript Hiroshima Mon Amour and her Prix Goncourt-winning novel THE LOVER, also filmed. Her other books include LA DOLEUR, BLUE EYES BLACK HAIR, SUMMER RAIN and THE NORTH CHINA LOVER. Born in Indochina in 1914, Marguerite Duras died in 1996.
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