Une Vie

First published in 1883, this novel follows Jeanne, a Norman viscount's daughter, from the convent into marriage with Julien de Lamare and into the house of Les Peuples on the Channel coast. She expects a romantic life; Julien proves cold, stingy, and unfaithful, first with a maid and later with a neighbor. Jeanne's parents, her children, and the priest Abbe Tolbiac mark the stages of her disillusion as money and affection drain away. The book is a long study of one woman's provincial life, not a scandal sheet and not a seafaring tale despite the coastal setting.

Quarter bound in brown-green cloth, yellow paper boards decorated in green-brown. Dark green-brown endleaves. Yellow textured slipcase.