Le baiser au lépreux

by François Mauriac

"Le baiser au lépreux" by François Mauriac is a novel published in 1922. Jean Péloueyre, a hideously ugly young man, marries the pretty Noémi d'Artiailh in an arranged union. He discovers that his physical presence causes her uncontrollable revulsion, and she begins to waste away. Desperate to spare her suffering, Jean makes increasingly drastic sacrifices. This tragic tale of marriage, physical repulsion, and self-destruction became Mauriac's first major success and is considered his first masterpiece.