The Still Storm

Françoise Sagan was called the Mademoiselle Chanel of literature. Beginning with her very first novel, “Bonjour Tristesse!” (1954), which caused quite a stir, her literary career blossomed brilliantly: with astonishing ease she created book after book, they were translated into various languages, and they scattered around the world in millions of copies.

“Unresting Thunder” (1983) is Sagan’s only historical — “costume” — novel. The action takes place in the wonderful summer of 1832 with its balls and picnics, visits and tea parties. And it is also a summer of love. Thirty-year-old provincial notary Nicolas Lomon falls in love with a young woman named Flora. Recently widowed, Flora moves into a castle that belongs to her family. A quiet love story gives way to a drama in which passion and fury boil. The story, told by Nicolas Lomon thirty years later, immerses the reader in the atmosphere of Stendhal’s or Maupassant’s novels.