This mesmerizing novel is a brilliant tale of sexuality and repression, madness and displacement. Written in the literary tradition of Balzac, Flaubert, and Bernanos, Adrienne Mesurat is a powerful and poignant story, beautifully narrated by one of the greatest novelists of our time. Trapped by the confines of provincial French society, cloistered at home with a tyrannical father and older sister, Adrienne Mesurat seeks to escape her tormented life. At eighteen she falls hopelessly in love with an older man. Caught up in dreams of romance and independence, but ill-prepared and inexperienced, Adrienne takes her first steps toward freedom—only to meet with disastrous results. Following her father's death, a destructive friendship, and a tortured love affair, Adrienne struggles to regain her equilibrium. She slips in and out of reality, becoming lost in a rich, compelling world of memory and desire.