Women oleh Mihail Sebastian

The frustrated wife of a French-Tunisian plantation owner, a mysterious older woman, a world weary tomboy, an unhappy mistress, a Parisian factory worker destined for tragedy, an acrobat turned cabaret sensation – these are the women whose lives are linked by their relationship with one man – Ștefan Valeriu. Divided into four separate stories connected by one man, Women takes us from Ștefan’s amorous entanglements at an Alpine lake resort, to his life in Bucharest and Paris, as each of the women in his life opens up new worlds for him. Women is a hymn to love in all its forms, romantic or platonic, sometimes reckless, often glorious and always, ultimately, ephemeral. 

Reviews:

"He wonderfully captures the atmosphere of prewar Romania in all its complexity, all the beauty and the horror… I love Sebastian for his lightness, for his wit…” -- John Banville, BBC4

‘It’s an edgy account of sexuality, desire, and the strictures of contemporary relationships... a compelling portrait of desire in its many convoluted manifestations.’ -- Kirkus Reviews, Kirkus Reviews

‘..these concise stories... showcase Sebastian’s brilliant eye for emotional detail.’ --Publishers' Weekly

‘His prose is like something Chekov might have written – the same modesty, candour, and subtleness of observation.’ -- Arthur Miller

“Nothing I have read is more affecting than Mihail Sebastian’s magnificent, haunting 1934 novel, For Two Thousand Years.” -- Phillipe Sands, The Guardian