A narrator staying in a pension on the French Riviera before the First World War recalls a scandal that shook the guests: a married woman, Mrs C, left her husband to run away with a young man she had known for a day. Years later, an elderly Englishwoman tells the narrator what happened in the twenty-four hours that changed her life. She watched a gambler in a casino, saw only his hands, and tried to save him from ruin. Stefan Zweig turns this episode into a study of passion and impulse.
Readers who like short, psychologically exact novellas will appreciate its brisk pace. It is a story about how a single day can overturn a settled life.
Inward-looking and thought-provoking; an easy read.
Best for readers like The Empathetic Explorer. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1992
- Publisher
- Le Livre de Poche
- Language
- FR
