First published 2004
Boule de Suif travels by carriage through war-torn France with fellow passengers who despise her profession yet need her help. A Parisian woman discovers her husband's secret double life through a chance encounter. Two brothers face a moral crisis at sea that tests their bond. Former lovers meet years later and confront what they once meant to each other. These thirty-four stories move between the salons of wealthy Paris, the farms of Normandy, and the glittering French Riviera. Maupassant exposes the contradictions in human nature through prostitutes and society ladies, playboys and peasants, cowards and heroes. His characters reveal both remarkable generosity and shocking selfishness, sometimes within the same person. The stories strip away social pretenses to show people as they truly are when tested by love, war, money, or loss.
Genres: fiction, short-stories, 20th-century, 19th-century
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, moral-dilemma
Setting: France, Normandy, French Riviera, Paris
Period: 19th-century, 20th-century
322 pages · Paperback · Penguin Classics
Content warnings: violence, war