The Image of Her

<p><b>One woman strives for perfection - it's an old story. This is Simone de Beauvoir's gripping version.</b><br><br>Laurence lives what appears to be an ideal existence. Her life features all the trappings of 1960s Parisian bourgeoisie: money, a handsome husband, two daughters and a lover. She also has a successful career as an advertising copywriter, though her mind unbidden writes copy whilst she's at home, and dreams of domesticity in the office.<br><br>But Laurence is a woman whose happiness was relegated long ago by the expectation of perfection. Relentlessly torn by the competing needs of her family, it is only when her 10-year-old daughter, Catherine, starts to vocalise her despair about the unfairness of the world that Laurence resists.<br><br><b>TRANSLATED BY LAUREN ELKIN</b></p>