Separation1994

Already an international literary sensation, and translated into eleven languages, Dan Franck's superbly elegant novel is both a microscopically observed, day-by-day account of a marriage going unexpectedly awry and a portrait of a generation whose young ideals - nurtured in the liberating political turbulence of 1968 France - fade as its members edge warily into their forties.

Offering a bittersweet commentary on marriage and morals in the nineties, Separation is also the story of one man's obsession - with his wife, with the life they lead together, and with the children they raise together. And it is the story of his passionate desire - and nearly crippling inability - to prevent any of it from slipping away. It is also - somewhat ironically - deeply romantic, and one of the most...