In the shadow of duty, desire blooms-and innocence becomes obsession.
Hélène Grandjean has devoted herself entirely to two things: her irreproachable virtue and her fragile daughter Jeanne. A young widow living in respectable isolation in 1850s Paris, she asks nothing more of life than peace and the chance to raise her child in safety.
But when the charming Dr. Deberle moves in next door with his beautiful wife, Hélène's carefully ordered world begins to crack. A simple friendship deepens into something far more dangerous. As Hélène finds herself helplessly drawn to a man she can never have, her daughter watches with eyes that miss nothing-and forgive less.
Jeanne's possessive love for her mother has always bordered on the unhealthy, but as she senses a rival for Hélène's affections, the girl's devotion transforms into something darker. Her mysterious illnesses intensify, her jealousies consume her, and the bond between mother and daughter becomes a strangling vine neither can escape.
Set against the magnificent panorama of Paris-a city that watches, judges, and remains eternally indifferent to human suffering-Émile Zola crafts a devastating portrait of forbidden love, maternal sacrifice, and the terrible price of virtue. Part psychological thriller, part tragic romance, A Page of Love reveals the Naturalist master at his most intimate and unsparing.
Some loves destroy. Some duties devour. And sometimes, the two cannot be separated.
From the author of Germinal and Nana comes a haunting exploration of desire, duty, and the darker side of devotion.
