Belle De Jour

The scandalous novel that inspired the Luis Buñuel movie starring Catherine Deneuve. “A relentless exposé of passion . . . An emotional adventure.” —Chicago Sun-Times

Severine Serizy is a wealthy and beautiful Parisian housewife. She loves her husband, but she cannot share physical intimacy with him, and her vivid sadomasochistic fantasies drive her to seek employment at a brothel. By day, she enacts her customers’ wildest fantasies under the pseudonym “Belle de Jour”; in the evenings, she returns home to her chaste marriage and oblivious husband. Famous for its unflinching eroticism, Joseph Kessel’s novel continues to offer an eye-opening glance into a unique female psyche.

“Truly a work of art.” —The Houston Post

“An intuitively knowledgeable novel of a woman’s double life and the dichotomy of body and soul.” —New York Post