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When friendship holds a hidden passion, where does loyalty end and love begin?
In Loving Friendship, Hermine Oudinot Lecomte du Noüy explores a bond that asks for loyalty, secrecy and care. Friendship is no lesser feeling here. It can carry real passion, making the line between devotion and love difficult to see—and harder still to put into words.
Against the strict expectations of polite society, private feelings raise difficult questions about honesty and reputation. What do we owe the people we love? How do we remain truthful when our own feelings are unclear? This quiet, reflective romance makes room for those questions rather than offering a simple set of rules.
What you’ll discover
- Friendship with real weight Consider a close bond that deserves to be taken as seriously as romantic love.
- The uncertainty of devotion Explore how the wish to give yourself to another can blur the boundaries of friendship.
- Private feeling, public rules Reflect on the pressure that expectations about marriage, family and reputation place on close ties.
- The demands of honesty Sit with the question of what truth requires when affection resists a clear name.
- Questions worth keeping Find room to think about loyalty, care and what we owe those we love.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy letters between two witty people, quiet psychological drama, Paris salons of the 1890s, and the gap between what people feel and what they say will find a lively companion here.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Friendship begins with a warning
- Philippe makes idleness his creed
- Denise trusts him with her past
- Love meets a clear refusal
- Their reunion exposes unfinished business
- Daily closeness unsettles their agreement
- Creating means risking personal exposure
- Their feelings no longer move together
- Self-deception puts affection at risk
Who’s who
- Philippe de LuzyA clever, idle man of fashion who wants a perfect friendship with Denise and fears the effort that anything more would ask.
- Denise TrémorsA young mother who lives apart from her husband, composes songs, and longs for a love that is also honest.
- HélèneDenise's young daughter, whose small, truthful remarks pierce the grown-ups' poses and who adores her friend Philippe.
- Suzanne d'AulnetDenise's lively niece, a society girl who flirts with Philippe and weighs every suitor against money and admiration.
- Germaine DalvillersDenise's quick-witted friend, who lights up every gathering with sharp jokes and says what others only think.
- Madame de NimerckDenise's gentle, watchful mother, who keeps the old Breton château and wants her daughter to be happy.
- GéraldDenise's brother, a naval officer who writes cheerfully from distant service and returns to guard his family.
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Loving Friendship
by Hermine Oudinot Lecomte du Noüy · 1896
A Paris man and a woman promise each other pure friendship, and their letters test that promise for years.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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“Love me a little less at a time, Nisette, and you’ll love me longer.”
In short
What happens when two people who like each other promise to stay only friends? One November in Paris, Philippe de Luzy writes a polite note to Denise Trémors, offering to bring her a little book of verse.
Loving Friendship at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 25 min4 h 15 min fast, 6 h 25 min slow
- Length
- 77,100 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1896by Hermine Oudinot Lecomte du Noüy
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A polite note begins a dangerous friendship
The book opens with Philippe writing to Denise on a November day. He asks to call the next afternoon and bring the little volume of verse she wanted. He says he felt they had been friends for years, then adds that he distrusts such instincts.
Denise answers within hours and says yes. She calls the evening where they met tedious, yet says it became so little tedious thanks to him.
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Details
- First published
- 1896
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 6 h 5 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Lecomte du Noüy, Hermine Oudinot. Loving Friendship. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/loving-friendship.
Lecomte du Noüy, H. O. (2026). Loving friendship. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loving-friendship (Original work published 1896)
Lecomte du Noüy, Hermine Oudinot. Loving Friendship. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loving-friendship.
@book{lecomtedunouy2026loving,
author = {Lecomte du Noüy, Hermine Oudinot},
title = {Loving Friendship},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loving-friendship},
note = {First published 1896}
}
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What is Loving Friendship about?
It is a novel told in letters between Philippe de Luzy and Denise Trémors, a man and a woman in 1890s Paris who try to keep a deep friendship free of love and watch it change over several years.
Who wrote Loving Friendship and when?
Hermine Oudinot Lecomte du Noüy wrote it. Her dedication to Laure de Maupassant bears the date October 1896, and the book is set among the salons, musicians and writers of her Paris.
Who is Hélène in Loving Friendship?
Hélène is Denise's young daughter, golden-haired and affectionate. Her small remarks about birds, pennies and dolls cut through the adults' poses, and her bond with Philippe matters more and more as the story goes on.
The author
Hermine Oudinot Lecomte du Noüy
1854–1915 · French novelist
Hermine Oudinot Lecomte du Noüy (1854–1915) was a French writer who lived in France. She wrote novels in French and published under the name Hermine Lecomte du Noüy. Her works include Amitié amoureuse, published in 1896 and translated into English as Loving Friendship.
“Love me a little less at a time, Nisette, and you’ll love me longer.”
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