Simple Passion

Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux is the Nobel laureate’s account of an obsessive love affair — the relationship that consumed her during a single year with a married man, and the ways in which that obsession reorganised her entire existence around the anticipation of his visits. Ernaux writes about desire with the same sociological and autobiographical precision she brings to everything: this is not a romance but an examination of a mental state — of what it means to subordinate everything to a single consuming feeling. The brevity of the book (under 100 pages) is part of its power: Ernaux strips away everything except the essential, creating something that feels both intimate and universal. Published by Fitzcarraldo Editions, Simple Passion is one of her most formally perfect works.