If you’re anything like me, finishing season 2 of Emily in Paris will have left you wanting oh so much more of everything à la française. Fear not, I have just the ticket for you: Bonjour Tristesse, a charming, witty and thoroughly dark tale all wrapped up in a slender 112-page novella.
Bonjour Tristesse is the story of Cécile, part-sophisticated beyond her years, part-precocious teenager, who is driven by jealousy, stubbornness and ennui to interfere in her father’s love affairs, leading to devastating consequences. All set against the backdrop of the French Riviera, descriptions of golden-skinned Cécile and her father Raymond’s hedonistic lifestyle, full of fast cars, languid heat and carefree soirées, oozes with nostalgia for a 1950s France that perhaps only ever truly existed in our collective imaginations.
Written when the author, Françoise Sagan, was only 18 years old, Bonjour Tristesse was an overnight success. However, the amoral and sexual themes in the book scandalised many critics at the time, and initial translations into English actually censored parts of the book – so make sure to refer to the more modern translation* for the complete story!
*I actually think that the 1955 translation is overall much better in terms of capturing the essence of the novel, so I’d read that version first, but it is important to recognise that parts of the text were omitted.
Buy the original 1955 translation by Irene Ash here.
Buy the 2013 translation by Heather Lloyd here.
Looking for something similar?
If you enjoyed Bonjour Tristesse, why not try The Dutch House by Ann Patchett.
Read my other book reviews here.
Leave a Reply