The Image of Her

This timeless and surprisingly jocular novel has the same richness of feeling and continental sophistication as Annie Ernaux’s auto-fiction, plus a dash of the wealthy carelessness found in F Scott Fitzgerald’s best known works… It’s the best book I’ve read so far this year * The Times *Only the best books can connect you to the past in the way this one does… And de Beauvoir’s writing takes your breath away * Country & Town House, Christmas Gift Guide 2025 *

Simone de Beauvoir was born in Paris in 1908. In 1929 she became the youngest person ever to obtain the agregation in philosophy at the Sorbonne, placing second to Jean-Paul Sartre. She taught at the lycees at Marseille and Rouen from 1931-1937, and in Paris from 1938-1943. After the war, she emerged as one of the leaders of the existentialist movement, working with Sartre on Les Temps Mordernes. The author of several books including The Mandarins (1957) which was awarded the Prix Goncourt, de Beauvoir was one of the most influential thinkers of her generation. She died in 1986.