Thérèse and Isabelle

Charged with metaphors, alternating with precise descriptions of sensations and human relationships, 'Thérèse and Isabelle' was censored by its publisher in France in 1954, first published in a truncated version in 1966 and not until 2000 in its uncensored edition, as Violette Leduc intended.

"I'm trying to express as exactly, as minutely as possible the sensations of physical love. There's something here that a woman can understand. I hope this won't appear more scandalous than the thoughts of Molly Bloom at the end of Joyce's Ulysses. Every sincere psychological analysis deserves to be heard, I think." Violette Leduc

For the first time in a new English translation, here is the unabridged text of 'Thérèse and Isabelle'.

Admired by Jean Genet, Nathalie Sarraute and Albert Camus, Violette Leduc (1907-1972) was championed by Simone de Beauvoir when she published her scandalous autobiography 'La Batarde' (1964). Like 'Thérèse and Isabelle', many of her audacious novels are largely inspired by her life. Her vibrant and lyrical prose continues to fascinate new generations of writers around the world.