Chéri

For six years, Léa has kept the beautiful Chéri as her lover-but she knows their affair cannot last forever.

Léa de Lonval, a magnificent courtesan in the twilight of her career, has enjoyed a passionate liaison with Fred Peloux, known to all as Chéri. He is half her age: spoiled, vain, and irresistibly lovely. Their relationship is an open secret in the demimonde of 1920s Paris, where aging beauties and wealthy young men move through a world of luxury and languor.

But Chéri is engaged to be married, and the time has come for their affair to end. What should be a sophisticated, painless parting becomes something far more devastating. As Léa struggles to reclaim her independence and Chéri attempts to accept his new role as husband, both discover that what seemed like an arrangement of convenience has become an obsession neither can escape.

Witty, sensuous, and heartbreaking, Chéri is Colette's unflinching portrait of desire, aging, and the cruel passage of time-a masterpiece of French literature that scandalized and captivated readers upon its publication and remains as fresh and provocative today.