Swann in Love is a brilliant, devastating novella that tells of infatuation, love, and jealousy. Set against the backdrop of Paris at the end of the nineteenth century, the story of Charles Swann illuminates the fragilities and foibles of human beings when in the grip of desire. Swann is a highly cultured man-about-town who is plunged into turmoil when he falls for a young woman called Odette de Crecy. The novel traces the progress of Swann's emotions with penetrating exactitude as he encounters Odette at the regular gatherings in the salon of the Verdurins. His wilful self-delusion...

Can we truly know the one we love? In this book, the author looks straight into the green eye of every lover's jealous struggle. It focuses on why we are driven to try possess one another, how jealousy can outlive death, and whether we can ever reclaim those careless days of first love.

'A la Recherche du Temps Perdu' by Marcel Proust is a magnificent and towering achievement of French literature, published in English translation in twelve volumes between 1922 and 1931, and totalling nearly one and a half million words. It is difficult for many readers to find the time and motivation needed to keep going through to the end as Proust has a rich and sometimes discursive style. However, a powerful structure underlies the whole work which is not revealed till the last chapter. This selection, which is less than a quarter of the original, includes all the crucial characters,...