Amazon.com description: Product Description: The acclaimed novel tells the story of a young French tutor whose life has been poisoned by monotony, disappointment and a dreary marriage. A chance meeting with a beautiful girl looses violent emotions and leads him on a dark journey of misery and sadistic crime. --- "Julien Green (1900-1998) was an American writer who authored several novels, a four-volume autobiography and his famous Diary. He wrote primarily in French and was the first non-French national to be elected to the Académie française."