Claire d'Albe

Set in the picturesque Loire Valley, the story explores the intense and forbidden romance between Claire and her husband's adopted son, Frédéric. The novel boldly portrays adulterous love as a means of personal fulfillment, challenging societal norms of its time. Margaret Cohen's edition emphasizes the conflict between collective welfare and individual happiness within Enlightenment liberalism. Despite later criticisms of sentimentalism, the work significantly influenced the realist aesthetics of prominent French authors like Stendhal and Balzac.