A Certain Smile

Fran癟oise Sagan is best known for her first novel, Bonjour Tristesse, which caused a scandal when she first published it at the age of eighteen in 1953. But her second novel, A Certain Smile, less shocking and more psychologically convincing, was preferred by many critics.� Like Bonjour Tristesse, this story is set in Paris in the 1950s and�told by a�young student bored by her�law books, restless and curious about love and sex.� She is fond of her loyal�boyfriend, but he, too, bores her.��His worldly uncle�strikes her as�more exciting,�appealingly risky and forbidden.�Frank and spontaneous, vulnerable and cruel, thoughtless and insightful, Sagan's young narrator explores such perennial themes as unrequited love and the precarious balance of irrational emotions and self-restraint.