She’s living a perfect life – so why does Laurence feel so torn?

Weekends in the country, weekdays in Paris – Laurence’s life features all the trappings of 1960s French bourgeoisie. She has money, a handsome husband, two daughters and a lover. She also has a successful career as an advertising copywriter, though her mind writes copy while she’s at home, and dreams of domesticity in the office.

All her life she has strived to meet the expectations of others. But when her 10-year-old daughter, Catherine, starts to vocalise her despair about the unfairness of the world, Laurence must finally grapple with a life that prizes image over truth.

Slim but powerful, this is a classic story of womanhood and its oppressors, parents and their children, and the quest for personal truth – by the iconic feminist Simone de Beauvoir.

TRANSLATED BY LAUREN ELKIN

'The best book I've read so far this year' The Times

'Beautifully written, what surprises is how very modern this feminist rite of passage feels' Daily Mail

‘A lethally moving portrait of female alienation and resistance’ Adam Thirlwell