This novel by Maupassant tells the story of a woman of the world, cold and heartless, frigid or perhaps a lesbian, as Maupassant knew some, who gives herself up here more than in any of her novels. The hero, faced with this fascinating and formidable being, takes another mistress, who is hardly enough for him. He is devastated by an amorous, violent, melancholy and cruel passion. It's a painful novel, written by an already ill Maupassant, which says goodbye to the women who have been the desire, the torment, and the victims of his life. We see the character of the artist who is degrading, writing less and less, facing the modern woman, the product of a society that has reached a critical point.