It was a wonderful story of two lovers who love each other throughout time and distance, for their entire lives. See also the reviews for Salt on Our Skin, becuase this one is a translation of that book.

"Salt On Our Skin" is a novel documenting an intellectual woman's lifelong affair with a fisherman from the village where her family summers. The author does a good job showing the protagonist's conflict between the cerebral and the genital, and showing how varieties of love exist in the wide space bookended by the brain and the groin. The feminine eroticism of the book reminded me of Mary Gordon's absorbing novel "Spending."

The author depicts the protagonist's selfish motivations skillfully, from childhood into late middle age. By showing her refusal to accept her lover's marriage proposal because of class and intellectual differences, Groult portrays the woman's haughtines: she rejects her first serious lover and chooses instead various spouses and companions based on financial, career, and intellectual considerations. The novel charts the course of the woman's repeated decisions to ignore her own choices and become involved again and again with the man she deems her cognitive inferior.

Along the way she constructs snobbish, often funny excoriations of popular culture and how the effete-- herself and her husbands-- can lead unsatisfying lives by falling prey to avant-garde trends. Groult shows how self-serving this woman is by refusing to let her lover go, by causing him extended pain; the novel also reflects how much she gains by allowing herself to be truly loved. The heroine actually shows some emotional, moral, and social growth because of the affection she receives and-- finally-- recognizes.

This book is the ultimate must for anybody who likes lovestories. It is by far my favorite book. Without being corny Benoite Groult writes in a realistic, funny and touching way about two people who can never get together because of their different social backgrounds but who cannot let go of each other either for the rest of their lives. Whenever I feel like a little extra touch in my life I get this book out of the shelf and keep enjoy reading it over and over again.

If you want to read about love, lust and passion expressed in beautiful writing don't waste your time, go ahead and buy this book. The way Mrs. Groult writes is like music.. It is not only the story you will love, you will want to read each sentence again and again. The story will make you feel the love George feels for Gauvain in your stomach like little butterflies..