The Vagabond

Colette's subversive and witty tale of a woman's bid for freedom in Belle Époque France, in a fresh new Penguin Classics translation

‘It’s definitely me there, covered in purple rouge, eyes ringed with a halo of blue greasepaint that’s beginning to melt’

Renée, aged thirty-three and divorced from her serially unfaithful husband, reinvents herself as a dancer and mime artist in France’s music halls. When a wealthy suitor appears promising marriage and stability, Renée must choose between the security he represents and her hard-won life as an artist. Colette’s subversive novel of the stage was based on her experiences as a struggling music hall performer following her own divorce. By turns melancholy and funny, it is a pioneering work of autofiction and a vivid portrayal of one woman’s pursuit of freedom.