Inseparable - Simone de Beauvoir

Written by Simone de Beauvoir
Read by Julie Whelan, Gabra Zackman
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: HarperAudio
Release date: September 7, 2021
Duration: 03:59:25

1954 A Never-Before-Published Novel
Sandra Smith – translator

Finalist for the French-American Florence Gould Translation Prize

A novel by the iconic Simone de Beauvoir of an intense and vivid girlhood friendship that, unpublished in her lifetime, displays “Beauvoir’s genius as a fiction writer” (Wall Street Journal)

From the moment Sylvie and Andrée meet in their Parisian day school, they see in each other an accomplice with whom to confront the mysteries of girlhood. For the next ten years, the two are the closest of friends and confidantes as they explore life in a post-World War One France, and as Andrée becomes increasingly reckless and rebellious, edging closer to peril.

Sylvie, insightful and observant, sees a France of clashing ideals and religious hypocrisy—and at an early age is determined to form her own opinions. Andrée, a tempestuous dreamer, is inclined to melodrama and romance. Despite their different natures they rely on each other to safeguard their secrets while entering adulthood in a world that did not pay much attention to the wills and desires of young women.

Deemed too intimate to publish during Simone de Beauvoir’s life, Inseparable offers fresh insight into the groundbreaking feminist’s own coming-of-age; her transformative, tragic friendship with her childhood friend Zaza Lacoin; and how her youthful relationships shaped her philosophy. Sandra Smith’s vibrant translation of the novel will be long cherished by de Beauvoir devotees and first-time readers alike.

“Narrators Gabra Zackman and Julia Whelan bring fine individual skills and compatible vocal registers to their performance of Simone de Beauvoir’s previously unpublished 1954 novella. The production also includes an introduction, an afterword, and a selection of letters between de Beauvoir and Zaza Lacoin, whose relationship inspired the book. Set in Paris, in the milieu of radical conservative Catholicism, the novella explores Sylvie (de Beauvoir) and Andree’s (Lacoin) friendship and the stifling effect of strict social codes. Zackman brings clarity and engagement to her reading of the introduction and afterword, and heartbreaking liveliness to Lacoin’s letters. Whelan’s narration of de Beauvoir’s letters highlights the author’s mix of desperation and self-control, and her performance of the novella nicely contrasts Sylvie’s naive yet sensible personality and Andree’s emotionality.”— AudioFile