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Bonjour Tristesse

By Françoise Sagan
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Bonjour Tristesse is a 1954 French classic narrated by Cécile, a self-absorbed seventeen-year-old on the cusp of adulthood. During a carefree summer at her father’s villa near Paris, Cécile enjoys freedom from school and relishes time with her charming widower father and his latest mistress. However, the arrival of her late mother’s best friend disrupts the idyll, triggering a delicate and dangerous game of manipulation. Cécile and her lover set a plan in motion to alter the adults’ relationships—with unforeseen and tragic consequences. This bittersweet tale explores youthful innocence, sexual liberation, and the complexities of control and desire.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$4800

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Bonjour Tristesse will appeal to readers interested in classic French literature, coming-of-age stories, and psychological drama. It is suited for those who appreciate lyrical prose and nuanced explorations of adolescence and adult relationships.

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Includes an interview with the author, an essay by the author, and a selection of death notices.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Now a New Major Motion Picture directed by Durga Chew-Bose and starring Lily McInerny, Chloë Sevigny, and Claes Bang

A sensational 1954 French novel that has become a contemporary classic. Set against the translucent beauty of France in summer, Bonjour Tristesse is a bittersweet tale narrated by Cecile, a seventeen-year-old girl on the brink of womanhood, whose meddling in her father's love life leads to tragic consequences.

Endearing, self-absorbed, seventeen-year-old Cécile is the very essence of untroubled amorality. Freed from the stifling constraints of boarding school, she joins her father—a handsome, still-young widower with a wandering eye—for a carefree, two-month summer vacation in a beautiful villa outside of Paris with his latest mistress. Cécile cherishes the free-spirited moments she and her father share, while plotting her own sexual adventures with a "tall and almost beautiful" law student. But the arrival of her late mother's best friend intrudes upon a young girl's pleasures. And when a relationship begins to develop between the adults, Cécile and her lover set in motion a plan to keep them apart...with tragic, unexpected consequences.

The internationally beloved story of a precocious teenager's attempts to understand and control the world around her, Françoise Sagan's Bonjour Tristesse is a beautifully composed, wonderfully ambiguous celebration of sexual liberation, at once sympathetic and powerfully unsparing.

This edition includes an introduction by Diane Johnson.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780061440793

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 01 June 2008

Country: United States

Imprint: Collins

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 11.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 181.0mm

Weight: 150g

Pages: 160

Collections

Fiction Francoise Sagan General Fiction Literary Fiction

About the Author

Françoise Sagan (1935-2004) was only eighteen when her first novel, Bonjour Tristesse, was published. Her other novels include Incidental Music, A Certain Smile, and The Painted Lady.

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