Mademoiselle Giraud My Wife

<p><I>Mademoiselle Giraud My Wife</I> (1870) is a novel by Adolphe Belot. Written at the height of his career as a popular playwright the novel proved immensely popular and caused a stir with its depiction of homosexuality. Recognized today as an important work of French literature and in the history of sexuality <I>Mademoiselle Giraud My Wife</I> is a highly original frequently funny and ultimately tragic work of fiction from an underappreciated writer of nineteenth century France.</p><p>Having forged a life of success and financial security for himself as a businessman Adrien returns to Paris to find a wife. Singularly obsessed with tying his fate to a respectable woman he finds himself struggling to remain realistic in his standards. Just when he thinks he will remain a bachelor for the rest of his days Adrien meets the beautiful Paule Giraud a friend of the influential Countess Berthe de Blangy. After a brief courtship he marries Giraud only to find himself rejected in the bedroom. As he succumbs to jealousy and suspicion Adrien becomes abusive and petulant eventually leaving his wife in Paris for the city of Nice. There he meets the Count de Blangy who reveals to the unsuspecting husband the secret of his wife's sexual habits: for years she has engaged in a lesbian affair with her friend Berthe. Enraged and dumbfounded Adrien hatches a plan with the Count to separate their wives and punish them for their sexual deviancy. Tragic and scandalous <I>Mademoiselle Giraud My Wife</I> was a bestselling story of homosexuality told from the point of view of an author who clearly possessed his society's reprehensibly oppressive views on sex and gender. Regardless Belot's novel remains an important landmark in the historical representation of homosexuality in literature.</p><p>With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript this edition of Adolphe Belot's <I>Mademoiselle Giraud My Wife</I> is a classic work of French literature reimagined for modern readers.</p>