• The first major new translation of this classic novel for thirty years, Russell Goulbourne's edition is based on the latest scholarship and includes a comprehensive introduction and notes
• Includes the all-important prefatory material, placed by Diderot at the end of the novel, and missing from recent translations
• The lively introduction covers Diderot's career, his subversion of the conventions of novel-writing, the representation of lesbianism and film adaptations
• The notes not only illuminate the novel but also eighteenth-century French society

Readership: Readers and students of French literature, Diderot, the Enlightenment, comparative literature, literature in translation, history, general humanities, gender studies

"Russell Goulbourne's wide-ranging introduction shows clearly how the work's past significance and it present meaning are linked: Goulbourne's excellent translation maintains the reader's involvement without sacrificing accuracy." - Times Literary Supplement