In this prequel to the critical sensation Love Me Tender, Constance Debré breaks free from conformity to live her life as a butch lesbian

Constance seemingly had it all: born into a wealthy and influential family; a career as a successful lawyer, love from her husband and son. But behind this veneer was the stifling pressure to conform to the boundaries of French society within which she could not be herself and survive. Playboy traces one woman''s transition from straight lawyer, mother and wife to the buzz-cut and tattooed lesbian taking the Parisian literary scene by storm. Constance is a detached narrator as she leads us through the quiet boredom of her life with her husband Laurent, the betrayal of his affair, the arrival of her son, and the influence of drugs and alcohol on her relationship with her family. Unburdened by marital and familial obligations, a new Constance emerges, free to explore the complexities of her love for women and herself. An affecting and compelling chronicle of transgression and the balance of power, Playboy is an unflinching account of Constance Debre''s discovery of bachelorhood. Translated by Holly James

Autorentext
Constance Debré is the author of Love Me Tender, which won the Prix Littéraire des Inrockuptibles in 2020 and Playboy, which won the Prix de la Coupole in 2018. Her novella Offences, based on her work as a defence attorney, is forthcoming from Tuskar Rock.

Klappentext

'Defiant, probing, hot' Saba Sams, author of Send Nudes

At the age of forty-three, the narrator abandons her marriage, her apartment and her successful legal career as a public defender to re-emerge as an out lesbian and a writer.

In a series of short, sharp vignettes, the narrator describes her first female lovers - a married woman fifteen years older than her, a model ten years her junior - punctuated by encounters with her ex-husband, her father and her son.

Looking at the world through fresh eyes, she questions everything that once lay beneath the surface of her well-managed life. Unburdened by marital and familial obligations, a new woman emerges, free to examine gender and marriage, selfishness and sacrifice, money and family, even the privilege inherent in her downward mobility.

A compelling chronicle of transgression, Playboy is Constance Debré's unflinching account of new bachelorhood. Laconic, aggressive and radically truthful, she chronicles the process that made her one of the most important French writers today.

Translated by Holly James

Zusammenfassung
In this prequel to the critical sensation Love Me Tender, Constance Debre breaks free from conformity to live her life as a butch lesbian