In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower

Love, memory, and the fleeting world of youth.

In In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, the second volume of Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, the narrator moves deeper into a world of first loves, new friendships, artistic ambitions, and the elusive pleasures of youth. From the elegant salons of Paris to the seaside resort of Balbec, he encounters people who will change the way he understands love, beauty, and society, including the captivating young girls who give the novel its title.

Proust captures the excitement and confusion of falling in love, the way attraction can change from one moment to the next, and the painful realization that the people we desire often exist as much in our imagination as they do in reality. Alongside these romantic discoveries, he observes the rituals and prejudices of French society with his characteristic wit and psychological insight. The result is a beautiful and deeply human exploration of growing up, seeing the world differently, and discovering that memory can make ordinary moments seem extraordinary.

• The second volume of Proust’s seven-volume In Search of Lost Time
• Winner of the Prix Goncourt in 1919
• Explores youth, first love, friendship, art, memory, jealousy, and social ambition
• Introduces the narrator’s experiences at Balbec and his encounters with Albertine and her circle
• Continues Proust’s remarkable examination of how memory and time shape our understanding of life

Formats and delivery

Paperback — Elegant print edition presenting the complete, unabridged text, and ships in 3–5 business days.
Hardcover — Elegant print edition presenting the complete, unabridged text, and ships in 5–7 business days.
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Audiobook — Professionally narrated, complete and unabridged. Available on Audible, Spotify, Apple Books.

A novel about the intoxicating uncertainty of youth, In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower captures the moment when the world seems newly available, and every encounter, romance, and disappointment feels capable of changing everything.

About the Author

Marcel Proust (1871–1922) was a French novelist, essayist, and critic best known for In Search of Lost Time, one of the greatest achievements of modern literature. His writing transformed the novel through its exploration of memory, perception, consciousness, love, jealousy, art, and the passage of time. Drawing extensively on his own experiences and the social world of fin-de-siècle France, Proust created a vast literary universe whose influence continues to shape modern fiction.