The Four Corners of the Heart

An Unfinished Novel

By Francoise Sagan

2019

First Published

3.22

Average Rating

164

Number of Pages

5H00M

Audio Length

From the internationally bestselling author of Bonjour Tristesse comes the surprise publication of a novel she never finished—and a story that evokes her greatest works. French literary star Françoise Sagan was just eighteen when she published her first bestseller, Bonjour Tristesse, in 1954. Decades later, this short novel an unfinished manuscript that wittily dissects the romantic lives of its bourgeois characters. The glamorous Marie-Laure never expected her wealthy older husband to survive a devastating car accident that left him in a fragile mental and physical condition. But three years later, Ludovic Cresson returns home to the family estate and finds himself in the throes of a tumultuous marriage. Overseeing this tense dynamic is Henri, the patriarch, who wants to see his son recover but detests various members of his own family. When Marie-Laure’s mother visits the estate, the family equilibrium falters spectacularly. As Ludovic’s virility returns, he cannot resist the charms of his mother-in-law—and neither can his father. The story ends abruptly, but it offers a vivid, if open ended, look into some of Sagan’s final undiscovered characters.

Avg Rating

3.22

Number of Ratings

848

5 STARS

11%

4 STARS

25%

3 STARS

43%

2 STARS

17%

1 STARS

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Author

Francoise Sagan

Author · 40 books

Born Françoise Quoirez, Sagan grew up in a French Catholic, bourgeois family. She was an independent thinker and avid reader as a young girl, and upon failing her examinations for continuing at the Sorbonne, she became a writer. She went to her family's home in the south of France and wrote her first novel, Bonjour Tristesse, at age 18. She submitted it to Editions Juillard in January 1954 and it was published that March. Later that year, She won the Prix des Critiques for Bonjour Tristesse. She chose "Sagan" as her pen name because she liked the sound of it and also liked the reference to the Prince and Princesse de Sagan, 19th century Parisians, who are said to be the basis of some of Marcel Proust's characters. She was known for her love of drinking, gambling, and fast driving. Her habit of driving fast was moderated after a serious car accident in 1957 involving her Aston Martin while she was living in Milly, France. Sagan was twice married and divorced, and subsequently maintained several long-term lesbian relationships. First married in 1958 to Guy Schoeller, a publisher, they divorced in 1960, and she was then married to Robert James Westhoff, an American ceramicist and sculptor, from 1962 to 63. She had one son, Denis, from her second marriage. She won the Prix de Monaco in 1984 in recognition of all of her work.