The French Lieutenant's Woman
The French Lieutenant's Woman is a 1969 postmodern historical fiction novel by John Fowles. The plot explores the fraught relationship of gentleman and amateur naturalist Charles Smithson and Sarah Woodruff, the former governess and independent woman with whom he falls in love. The novel builds on Fowles' authority in Victorian literature, both following and critiquing many of the conventions of period novels.
First US edition
The Cobb at Lyme Regis, near where Smithson and Ernestina first encounter Sarah.
Ammonite fossils on the beach near Lyme Regis. The narrator often reflects on Smithson's fascination with science and natural history, while referring to the fossils found near Lyme Regis
John Robert Fowles was an English novelist, critically positioned between modernism and postmodernism. His work was influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, among others.
John Fowles
New College, Oxford, where Fowles attended university.
Belmont – Fowles's home in Lyme Regis