An exquisite new translation of Colette's tragicomic masterpiece, a pair of novels exploring the relationship between an aging courtesan and a much younger man.

Cheri and its sequel, The End of Cheri, mark Colette's finest achievements, in their brilliant, subtle, and frank investigations of love and power. Set in the Parisian demimonde in the last days of the Belle epoque, Cheri tells the story of Lea, a courtesan at the end of a successful career, and her lover, the beautiful but emotionally opaque Cheri. Cheri will soon enter into an arranged marriage, ending their six-year affair, which-they will each realize too late-has been the one real love of their lives. The End of Cheri picks up their story in the aftermath of the First World War; as a psychically wounded Cheri begins an inexorable descent, he finds he cannot return to the Lea he left.

With a preface by the acclaimed Lydia Davis, Rachel Careau's lean, attentive translation restores to these classic novels their taut, remarkably modern style-the essence of Colette's genius.