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L'invitée

Simone de Beauvoir

1954404 pagesabout 6–9 hours
1954
first published
  • 1954World Pub. Co. · 404 pages · ENG
  • 1966Penguin · ENG
  • 1975Fontana · 409 pages · ENGISBN 9780006165958
  • 1990Norton · 404 pages · ENGISBN 9780393306460
  • 2006HarperCollins Publishers Limited · 416 pages · ENGISBN 9780007204649
  • 2010Random House Mondadori · 424 pagesISBN 9789875666191
  • 1999W. W. Norton & Company · 404 pages · ENGISBN 9780393318845
  • 1982Flamingo Paperbacks · 409 pages · ENGISBN 9780006540809

Set in Paris on the eve of World War II and sizzling with love, anger, and revenge, She Came to Stay explores the changes wrought in the soul of a woman and a city soon to fall. Although Françoise considers her relationship with Pierre an open one, she falls prey to jealousy when the gamine Xavière catches his attention. The moody young woman from the countryside pries her way between Françoise and Pierre, playing up to each one and deviously pulling them apart, until the only way out of the triangle is destruction. Based on the author's actual relationships with Jean-Paul Sartre and Bianca Bienenfeld.

How it reads

Character focusSmall ensemble

Worth knowing

Romance levelCentralSubplot

When and where

ThemesLove
How do you feel?