The extraordinary correspondence between Albert Camus and the love of his life Maria Casarès must rank among the most passionate ever written. Rarely can two lovers have expressed with such fervour a comparable range of emotions, from ecstasy to darkest despair. At times one shies away from the letters’ raw, searing intimacy, feeling like an intruder; but the sheer force of the feelings expressed and the finesse with which they are articulated propel one through.

These letters were first published in France in 2017 by Camus’s daughter Catherine, who was given them for safe-keeping by Casarès shortly before her death in 1996. Realising their power and significance, she had them transcribed and dated, and they were greeted with great acclaim, forming the basis of several theatre performances and a tele-vision documentary.

To read the letters is to experience a vertiginous roller-coaster between transcendent joy and abject suffering

To read the letters is to experience a vertiginous roller-coaster between transcendent joy and abject suffering

Casarès was not Catherine’s mother. Camus was married to Francine Faure throughout the span of his great affair with Casarès. But they were separated by war when Camus and Casarès first became lovers, on 6 June 1944, the start of France’s liberation. Camus was in the Resistance and often in hiding; Francine had remained for safety in her native Algeria. They were due to be reunited in October that year; meanwhile a coup de foudre brought Camus and Casarès together on the set of his play The Misunderstanding. Casarès was 21 to his 30, and already making waves as a talented actress of Spanish descent. Camus was feted as the author of The Outsider and editor-in-chief of the Resistance journal........

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