Passion of Mademoiselle S.

Jean-Yves Berthault is a French diplomat, fluent English speaker, and has worked professionally around the world. In 2012, when helping a close friend clear out her cellar in Paris, he stumbled upon an old attaché case buried deep beneath a high pile of discarded newspapers. Opening it, he discovered it was crammed full of letters dating from 1928, written by a woman who we shall call Simone. This was the start of a two-year project in which he collated the letters into chronological order and added historical and cultural footnotes. The letters are now a testament to a unique love affair and to a moment in history.

Adriana Hunter has translated more than one hundred books, and has won or been shortlisted for numerous translation prizes, most recently as the runner-up for the 2024 Scott Moncrieff Prize for her translation of Hervé Le Tellier’s The Anomaly. She lives in Kent, England.