Three line runs later, I finally finished reading Choderlos de Leclos' Dangerous Liaisons. In translation I'm ashamed to say. I bought it at least two and a half months ago and have been wading through it incredibly half-heartedly in the name of rounding out the portrayal of my character.

I don't mean to rubbish de Leclos' achievement but Christopher Hampton certainly did a fine job of trimming his novel into something a bit more manageable. Having said that, the novel is undoubtedly a literary classic. It was banned for years and you can imagine the horror that it was greeted with in eighteenth century France. I'm not sure if you could necessarily attribute the beginning of the French revolution to the novel as the most recent Penguin translator endeavours to do. But nonetheless, it must have caused a bit of a ruckus.

And in the midst of the long long explanations of the plot, there are - scattered here and there - some amazing lines. Brilliantly insightful for an eighteenth century reasonably well-off frustrated soldier who aged 45 or thereabouts finally settled down deliriously happily with a woman half his age and proceeded to live out the rest of his life in delightful marital bliss.

So I think the novel deserves its reputation (in my humble opinion). But goodness, don't tuck into it for frothy nonsense as you shall be sorely disappointed.

As to whether it has added anything to my portrayal of the unfortunate Madame de Tourvel, only time will tell. I certainly have a deeper understanding of her descent into madness and death as the book is much more detailed than the playwright who kills her off in a line or two. I shall try and convey this sense of impending madness in my tortured eyes.