A Man's Place

Not since Francoise Sagan's Bonjour Tristesse has the world seen anything like it. Here is another young woman, romantically sensitive, quintessentially French, sharing the story of her awakening. In A Woman's Story, it is a wakening to pain -- the pain of loss, for her mother has just died. In a Man's Place, Ernaux explores the complex relationship with her father. Simple Passion -- the tender recollections of a young woman's obsessive affair with a married man -- crowns the trio.

"Graceful …