9 h 56 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What is love worth in a Paris where money, ambition, and reputation put trust to the test?
In Love Today, Daniel Lesueur brings love, ambition, and betrayal into the world of Belle Époque Paris. Salons, newspapers, theatres, and fast-moving fortunes form the backdrop. The heart pulls one way; the wish to rise in society pulls another. Love faces the pressure of careers, money, and the need to protect a good name.
Lesueur, the pen name of French writer Jeanne Loiseau, explores modern love from a woman novelist’s perspective. Marriage sits between feeling and social ambition: it can be a bond of affection, a bargain, or both. Betrayal makes trust a central concern, asking what people owe each other when private desires meet the demands of reputation.
What you’ll discover
- Paris beyond the glamour Enter a world of salons, theatres, and fortunes where social standing matters.
- Hearts against ambition Explore the strain between loving someone and wanting to get ahead.
- Marriage and its bargains Consider how affection and social advantage can pull at the same bond.
- The weight of trust Follow the uneasy place of loyalty in a world shaped by rivalry and reputation.
- A woman writer’s perspective Discover Jeanne Loiseau’s view of love through the name Daniel Lesueur.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you like psychological novels, Paris in the 1880s, the world of artists and politicians, or stories that look closely at love, ambition and a woman's choices.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A painter meets her hero at the ministry
- A sheltered girl learns to trust too easily
- One Sunday at Versailles changes everything
- Warnings she does not want to hear
- A promise of marriage is made and broken
- Gambetta falls and a hidden cottage waits
- Long summer days alone in Clamart
- Letters deepen the distance between them
- What the novel says about love and society
Who’s who
- Renée SorelA talented young Paris painter who supports her blind father and mother, and who trusts those she loves without reserve.
- Lionel DuplessierA handsome, eloquent lawyer and political favorite of Gambetta, who wants fortune and pleasure more than any lasting tie.
- Fabrice de LigneulLionel's loyal and chivalrous friend, a shy nobleman who studies hard and admires women with old-fashioned respect.
- Mr. SorelRenée's father, a blind professor who writes a history of parliaments and holds strict views on honor.
- Mrs. SorelRenée's gentle, pious mother, who keeps the household together and takes dictation for her husband.
- Léon GambettaThe real statesman and orator who guides Lionel's career and whose fall deeply affects both lovers.
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- Audiobook
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear Amore oggi in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Amore oggi
by Daniel Lesueur · 1888
Renée, a young Paris painter, gives her heart to a rising politician who tells her he will never marry.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What does a brilliant young woman do when the man she loves says he will never marry her? Love Today, by Daniel Lesueur, follows Renée Sorel, a painter in Paris in the early 1880s, and Lionel Duplessier, a charming protégé of the statesman Léon Gambetta.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A painter meets her hero at the ministry
The story opens on a December afternoon in Paris. Renée Sorel, twenty-two and already known for her paintings, walks along the Quai d'Orsay with no purpose except to breathe the air near Lionel Duplessier. He is twenty-four, handsome, and chief of staff to the under-secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, thanks to Gambetta, who treats him like a son.
Lionel finds her in the street and takes her into his office to warm herself by the fire. He gets her a ticket to the Chamber of Deputies, where she will hear Gambetta speak. Then he tells her he loves her but cannot marry, because his mother, his mentor and his country come first. Renée answers that she will wait as long as it takes.
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What is Love Today by Daniel Lesueur about?
It follows Renée Sorel, a young Paris painter, and her love for Lionel Duplessier, an ambitious politician close to Gambetta. The novel traces her trust, her struggle to keep her honor and her family safe, and the cost of his selfishness.
Who is Lionel Duplessier in the novel?
Lionel is a gifted young lawyer and speaker who serves as Gambetta's favorite. He is charming and affectionate in manner, but he wants money, success and pleasure above all, and he gives Renée little beyond his words.
Is Love Today based on real events?
The story places Renée and Lionel among political events of the early 1880s, including Gambetta's fall in January 1882.
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