Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

From the groundbreaking author of The Second Sex "a book that will leave no one indifferent, and no one affected in quite the same way" (New York Times).

A superb memoir by one of the great literary figures of the twentieth century, Simone de Beauvoir's Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter offers an intimate picture of growing up in a bourgeois French family, rebelling as an adolescent against the conventional expectations of her class, and striking out on her own with an intellectual and existential ambition exceedingly rare in a young woman in the 1920s.

Beauvoir vividly evokes her friendships, love interests, mentors, and the early days of the most important relationship of her life, with fellow student Jean-Paul Sartre, against the backdrop of a turbulent political time.

"The graciously written memoirs carry distinct appeal in recording the emotional and intellectual birth pangs of a fascinating woman." -Time

"Excellent. . . . the line between the child Simone and the woman of "The Second Sex" and "The Mandarins" is direct and clear." -Joan Brace, Chicago Sunday Times

"This is perhaps the best piece of writing Mlle. de Beauvoir has yet done; the translator does it justice." -Germaine Bref, Saturday Review