Adolphe: A Confession

When the brilliant but aimless young Adolphe meets Ellénore, a captivating woman ten years his senior, he pursues her with a passion that defies convention and scandal. She sacrifices her reputation, her fortune, and her protector for him, convinced of his devotion. Yet no sooner has Adolphe won her than his own heart begins to falter. Bound by pity and a sense of obligation, he stays—and in staying, destroys them both. Benjamin Constant’s Adolphe is a piercing study of love’s dark twin: the incapacity to leave. This modern retelling preserves the novel’s psychological intensity while rendering its spare, elegant prose in clear, contemporary English. It is a story for anyone who has ever known the ache of a relationship held together by weakness rather than desire. Part of Timeless Classics.