Betty

There was no longer any conflicting ambiguity between her speech and her thoughts; the feverishness was gone, along with the artificial warmth and uncertainty. What remained was the harsh truth laid bare in stark, unforgiving detail. Betty finds herself adrift, sitting alone at a run-down bar on the Champs-Élysées. An older woman offers her companionship, triggering the return of Betty's troubled past. Shunned by the elite and driven by jealousy, she is compelled to dismantle her seemingly perfect life. This intense psychological thriller, first published in 1961, garnered widespread attention and inspired a film by Claude Chabrol. The Chicago Tribune praised it as "a brilliant portrait of betrayal, hypocrisy, love, and loss."

The description comes from the publisher.