Notoriety, faithfulness, gossip, love and style are Alphonse Daudet's subjects in these little-known stories about the strained relations between artists and their spouses. Daudet, known as the French Dickens, has an unerring eye for that eternal triangle—artist husband, model wife, and fickle fame.

Alphonse Daudet (1840–1897) was part of the French naturalist group of writers. He was known for his uncanny empathy, his unforced tone, his understated humor, and his keen observations of both Paris and Provençal life.

Olivier Bernier is an historian, biographer, and author of critically acclaimed histories of eighteenth-century France.