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