“Elisa”

excerpt from the novel
The One We Adored
by Catherine Cusset

In this novel, Catherine speaks in the first person and addresses Thomas in the second, as if telling him the story of his life.

At the dinner I arrange for my husband’s birthday at the end of February, you meet Elisa. You are astonished to discover that this name, with its exotic sonorities, is simply spelled “Elisa,” not, as if it were French, “I-Laïza.” Even more surprised to see that this exotic Elisa I’ve been telling you so much about is so beautiful.