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Dangerous Liaisons
Two exes turn seduction into a sport and send each other the receipts. Spoiler: nobody wins. 📜🖤
Who it's for
Because the novel is told entirely in letters, the reader has to spot the manipulation themselves: the flattery, the staged sincerity, the lies told to one person and boasted about to another.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos's 1782 novel is told entirely in letters, so readers have to reconcile the characters' conflicting accounts for themselves. It follows two aristocratic manipulators: the Marquise de Merteuil, who seeks revenge by corrupting the young Cécile de Volanges, and the Vicomte de Valmont, who sets out to seduce the virtuous, married Madame de Tourvel.
Where to find it
Public domain in the US in the 1782 French original and older English translations, which can be found free online. Modern translations in print (Oxford, Penguin) and via libraries (Libby/Hoopla); aud.
Before you start
Heads up: Rape of a young girl.
Age: Ages 16+
The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter 27
