Gigi by Colette.
Title: Gigi.
Author: Colette.
Genre: Fiction, novella, literature, romance.
Country: France.
Language: French.
Publication Date: 1944.
Summary: The story of a young girl being raised in a household more concerned with success and money than with the desires of the heart. But Gigi is uninterested in the dishonest society life she observes all around her and remains exasperatingly Gigi. The tale of Gigi's success in spite of her anxious family is Colette at her liveliest and most entertaining.
My rating: 6.5/10.
♥ "Aunt, I'm very fond of opals, too."
"I am very sorry, but you are not to wear them. I won't allow it."
Dumbfounded, Gilberte remained for a moment open-mouthed.
"Oh! Do you too, Aunt, really believe that they bring bad luck?"
"Why in the world not? You silly little creature," Alicia went bubbling on, "you must pretend to believe in such things. Believe in opals, believe - let's see, what can I suggest - in turquoises that die, in the evil eye..."
"But," said Gigi, haltingly, "those are- are superstitions!"
"Of course they are, child. They also go by the name of weaknesses. A pretty little collection of weaknesses and a terror of spiders are indispensable stock-in-trade with men."
"Why, Aunt?"
The old lady closed the casket and kept Gilberte kneeling before her.
"Because nine men out of ten are superstitious, nineteen out of twenty believe in the evil eye, and nighty-eight out of a hundred are afraid of spiders. They forgive us - oh, for many things, but not for the absence in us of their own failings," she said.