The Four Corners of the Heart: An Unfinished Novel

From the internationally bestselling author of Bonjour Tristesse comes the surprise publication of a novel she never finished—and a story that evokes her greatest works.

French literary star Françoise Sagan was just eighteen when she published her first bestseller, Bonjour Tristesse, in 1954. Decades later, this short novel an unfinished manuscript that wittily dissects the romantic lives of its bourgeois characters.

The glamorous Marie-Laure never expected her wealthy older husband to survive a devastating car accident that left him in a fragile mental and physical condition. But three years later, Ludovic Cresson returns home to the family estate and finds himself in the throes of a tumultuous marriage.

Overseeing this tense dynamic is Henri, the patriarch, who wants to see his son recover but detests various members of his own family. When Marie-Laure’s mother visits the estate, the family equilibrium falters spectacularly. As Ludovic’s virility returns, he cannot resist the charms of his mother-in-law—and neither can his father.

The story ends abruptly, but it offers a vivid, if open ended, look into some of Sagan’s final undiscovered characters. View Less