Book description
At the end of Chéri the young Chéri left his aging mistress Léa on
the eve of his marriage. Having served in the army during the war
Chéri returns to Paris haunted by memories of his carefree youth and
the bounty of his benevolent mistress. In the post-war 1920's he finds
it impossible to settle down to a new life with his efficient and
entrepreneurial wife and friends.
As his looks and his reputation begin to deteriorate Chéri's life
is thrown into crisis as he attempts to recapture the contentment and
companionship of his luxurious youth. As Chéri and Léa confront each
other, and the changes a decade has wrought on their lives and their
looks, Colette displays the incredible sensitivity and insight for
which she is justly famous.
Colette, the creator of Claudine, Cheri and Gigi, and one of France's
outstanding writers, had a long, varied and active life. Born in
Burgundy on 1873 she moved to Paris at the age of twenty with her
husband the writer and critic Henry Gauthiers-Viller (Willy). Forcing
Colette to write Willy published her novels in his name and the Claudine
series became an instant success. In 1935 she married for the third time
and lived with husband Maurice Goudeket until her death in 1954. Her
writing runs to fifteen volumes, novels, portraits, essays, chroniques
and a large body of autobiographical prose. She was the first woman
President of the Academie Goncourt, and when she died she was given a
state funeral and buried in Pere-Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
