Marguerite Duras recounts once again the story of the relationship between the young girl she was and the Chinese lover we know from her novel "The Lover" and its successful film adaptation. This time, however, Marguerite Duras presents the wonderful and impossible love story between the white "child" and the experienced young man from a wealthy, yet Chinese, background in a more detailed and elaborate manner. It is as if she approaches this pivotal experience anew with increasing distance and age, and as if she is now better able to empathize with the young girl she once was. In the preface to this novel, she writes that the impulse to rewrite this "lover" came to her when she learned of his death. She had never thought before about his transience. Once again, she allows herself to write.