Unclear Profile

Francoise Sagan was called the “Mademoiselle Chanel of literature.” Beginning with her very first novel “Hello, Sadness” (1954), which made quite a stir, her literary career flourished: with astonishing ease, she created book after book. They were translated into various languages and scattered across the world in millions of copies. And when, twenty years later, in 1974, her novel “An Indistinct Profile” was released, the author was a full-fledged heroine of the social chronicle, glossy magazines, scandals, and reports on court proceedings.

Yet “An Indistinct Profile” is again a novel about love—its twists and traps; about things that kill a marriage; about how hard it is to stay on your feet when love leaves. Françoise Sagan remains herself: her prose is transparent, elegant, lacking affectation—delivering joy to ever-new generations of readers.