Found this in the Valentin bookbox - a classic that I've never read. It begins "At the little town of Vevey, in Switzerland, there is a particularly comfortable hotel." I look forward to reading more about the place I lived in for nearly 20 years.

So, Vevey's lake front is lined with hotels of all kinds, including pink or yellow pensions with names in German-style lettering. Ummm...
And I would really like to know how they can see the shining walls of the Château de Chillon from the "garden" of the Trois-Couronnes. I must look at some old maps to see if La Tour de Peilz has moved, somehow.

The cover is a detail of Jean Beraud's painting Waiting, rue de Châteaubriand (Paris) but has been reversed. I'm sure the designer could have found something more appropriate to the novella with a little more effort.

I suppose one must allow some poetic licence.

An attractive young American girl, Daisy is quite flirtatious, does as she likes, takes no notice of proprieties, is something of a rebel and gets herself noticed, in Vevey where she meets Winterbourne (who tells her story) and in Rome where she spends most of her time with the Italian Giovanelli but where Winterbourne catches up with her and is most solicitous, especially when he sees her in the middle of the Coliseum in the moonlight with Signor Giovanelli.

I think that knowing how to behave with men is something like walking on a tightrope. It was when I was Daisy's age and it is probably the same for teenagers today, perhaps even worse.

dans la boîte 20 minutes