Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“A book that will leave no one indifferent, and no one affected in quite the same way.” —New York Times

A superb autobiography by one of the great literary figures of the twentieth century

Simone de Beauvoir's Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter offers an intimate picture of growing up in a bourgeois French family, rebelling as an adolescent against the conventional expectations of her class, and striking out on her own with an intellectual and existential ambition exceedingly rare in a young woman in the 1920s.

Beauvoir vividly evokes her friendships, love interests, mentors, and the early days of the most important relationship of her life, with fellow student Jean-Paul Sartre, against the backdrop of a turbulent political time.

“[Beauvoir’s] graciously written memoirs carry distinct appeal in recording the emotional and intellectual birth pangs of a fascinating woman.” - Time magazine

“This excellent autobiography . . . of the bending of the twig is, in certain respects, more sympathetic than the later leafings of the tree; but the line between the child Simone and the woman of The Second Sex and The Mandarins is direct and clear.” - Chicago Sunday Times

“It is a book that will leave no one indifferent, and no one affected in quite the same way.” - New York Times

“This is perhaps the best piece of writing Mlle. de Beauvoir has yet done; the translator does it justice.” - Saturday Review