Cheri

A sumptuous belle epoque tale of a courtesan and a lover half her age. Cheri is considered Colette's finest book.

A vivid, believable love story between an older woman and a younger man.

Léa de Lonval is a magnificent and aging courtesan facing the end of her career.

A vivid, believable love story between an older woman and a younger man.

Léa de Lonval is a magnificent and aging courtesan facing the end of her career. She has devoted the last six years to the amorous education of the exquisitely handsome and spoilt Chéri – a playboy half her age. When an advantageous marriage is arranged for Chéri, Léa reluctantly decides their relationship must end. But neither lover can foresee how deeply they are connected, or how much they will have to give up.

First published in 1920, it was instantly greeted by Marcel Proust and André Gide as a masterpiece.

‘I devoured Chéri at a gulp. What a wonderful subject and with what intelligence, mastery and understanding of the least-admitted secrets of the flesh’ André Gide