Der Wächter des Herzens / Blaue Flecken auf der Seele / Ein bißchen Sonne im kalten Wasser

Françoise Sagan (1935–2004), author of the cult Bonjour tristesse, continues her signature style in these three novels from the late 1960s and early 1970s: cool elegance, irony, melancholy, and sharp analysis of love and existential crises.

In Der Wächter des Herzens (1968), 45-year-old Hollywood screenwriter Dorothy meets a mysterious young man, Lewis, after a car accident. He becomes her “guardian of the heart,” but the story turns into a dark psychological thriller with elements of crime and images of Hollywood superficiality.

Ein bißchen Sonne im kalten Wasser (1969) follows Gilles, a 35-year-old Parisian journalist who is sinking into depression. On a trip to the provinces, he meets Nathalie, a married woman who falls passionately in love with him. Their relationship ends in tragedy – one of Sagan’s most moving depictions of the disparity in love.

Blaue Flecken auf der Seele (1972) is a more introspective novel about the brother and sister Sébastien and Éléonore. Through their lives, Sagan reflects on aging, loss of desire, money problems and the "blue spots on the soul" that life leaves.

Common themes are the transience of love, emotional exhaustion, luxury and inner emptiness of the Parisian and fashionable elite. Sagan writes succinctly, precisely and with bitterness, creating portraits of people looking for sunshine in the cold water of life. Three novels offer the peak of her mature period – prose full of elegance, sadness and lucidity.