4.0
The Lady of the Camellias
ByPublisher Description
The landmark novel that inspired Verdi’s opera La Traviata, in a sparkling new translation
"One of the greatest love stories of all time," according to Henry James, and the inspiration for Verdi’s opera La Traviata, the Oscar-winning musical Moulin Rouge!, and numerous ballets, stage plays (starring Lillian Gish, Eleonora Duse, Tallulah Bankhead, and Sarah Bernhardt, and films (starring Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, Rudolph Valentino, Isabelle Huppert, and Colin Firth), The Lady of the Camellias itself was inspired by the real-life nineteeth-century courtesan Marie Duplessis, the lover of the novel’s author, Alexander Dumas fils.
Known to all as “the Lady of the Camellias” because she is never seen without her favorite flowers, Marguerite Gautier, the most beautiful, brazen, and expensive courtesan in all of Paris. But despite having many lovers, she has never really loved—until she meets Armand Duval, young, handsome, and hopelessly in love with her.
“Marguerite and Armand are the kind of bright, self-destructive young things we still read about in magazines, watch on-screen, or brush up against today.”
—Liesl Schillinger, from the Note on the Translation
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
"One of the greatest love stories of all time," according to Henry James, and the inspiration for Verdi’s opera La Traviata, the Oscar-winning musical Moulin Rouge!, and numerous ballets, stage plays (starring Lillian Gish, Eleonora Duse, Tallulah Bankhead, and Sarah Bernhardt, and films (starring Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, Rudolph Valentino, Isabelle Huppert, and Colin Firth), The Lady of the Camellias itself was inspired by the real-life nineteeth-century courtesan Marie Duplessis, the lover of the novel’s author, Alexander Dumas fils.
Known to all as “the Lady of the Camellias” because she is never seen without her favorite flowers, Marguerite Gautier, the most beautiful, brazen, and expensive courtesan in all of Paris. But despite having many lovers, she has never really loved—until she meets Armand Duval, young, handsome, and hopelessly in love with her.
“Marguerite and Armand are the kind of bright, self-destructive young things we still read about in magazines, watch on-screen, or brush up against today.”
—Liesl Schillinger, from the Note on the Translation
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Lady of the Camellias Reviews
4.0
“while the first half was, in my opinion, quite bland - i mean, nice writing style, interesting setup, but nothing i haven’t already read in other stories - from about the middle of the book i just couldn’t stop reading further. i was SO anxious for the last 50 pages or so. there’s a specific point of the story in which you hate EVERY single character at the same time, for different reasons. the main characters of this book are masterfully multifaceted and change throughout the story, and that’s part of why you come to be invested in it - for the bad and for the good.
---- sort of spoiler???? -----
i guess i would’ve liked to have read Manon Lescaut before starting this one, because it’s a story that is mentioned multiple times, and it’s quite central to the story!”
BelievableMemorableOriginalStrong relationshipsAction-packedAddictiveClever plottingPredictable but satisfyingSatisfying conclusionSteady pacingSuspensefulAncientBeautifulDarkEnchantedEtherealEvocative imageryExpansiveUnique locationVivid descriptionsBeautifully-writtenEasy to readFlowery/lushOriginalStraightforwardTakes getting used toDeathGriefSelf-harm
About Alexandre Dumas fils
Alexandre Dumas fils (1824–1895) was the son of the famous novelist Alexandre Dumas. He published many novels, and after the success of the dramatic version of The Lady of the Camellias, he became equally prolific as a playwright.
Liesl Schillinger is a widely published literary critic, writer, and translator who writes regularly for The New York Times Book Review and spent many years on the editorial staff of The New Yorker. A Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters of France, she he lives in New York.
Julie Kavanagh is an award-winning biographer and the author of The Girl Who Loved Camellias, about the courtesan Marie Duplessis, who inspired The Lady of the Camellias. She has been London editor of both Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. She lives in London.
Liesl Schillinger is a widely published literary critic, writer, and translator who writes regularly for The New York Times Book Review and spent many years on the editorial staff of The New Yorker. A Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters of France, she he lives in New York.
Julie Kavanagh is an award-winning biographer and the author of The Girl Who Loved Camellias, about the courtesan Marie Duplessis, who inspired The Lady of the Camellias. She has been London editor of both Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. She lives in London.
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