Set in Paris in the 1780s, Retif de la Bretonne's Ingenue Saxancour is a thinly veiled account of his daughter's disastrous marriage to an abusive husband. From the time of her marriage in January, 1780, until she left her husband in July, 1785, Agnes Retif suffered continually from severe physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Published in 1789, Retif's novel scandalized the public with its graphic descriptions of his son-in-law's sexual perversity and brutal violence. Retif's novel remains shocking more than two centuries later and continues to raise disturbing questions about power...