Retreat from Love

(Paperback)

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Description

In an isolated farmhouse in the Jura, Claudine awaits her husband Renaud's return from a Swiss sanatorium. She distracts herself by encouraging her young friend Annie to recount salacious episodes from her love life. When Renaud's gay son Marcel arrives Claudine sets about matchmaking, a fiasco she bitterly regrets. With Renaud's death, Claudine's ennui is transmuted into resigned suffering. But she gradually allows the rhythm and beauty of the natural world to reawaken her desire to live.

Reviews

"The realization that Colette was a major literary talent is apparent on every page." --Irish Times

Author Bio

Colette was the author of the Claudine series. She was the foremost French woman author of her time and established herself as an outstanding talent whose novels and prose-works were notable for their sensitive understanding and portrayal of nature and country life.