Download or read book Act of Passion written by Georges Simenon and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2011-10-18 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For forty years Charles Alavoine has sleepwalked through his life. Growing up as a good boy in the grip of a domineering mother, he trains as a doctor, marries, opens a medical practice in a quiet country town, and settles into an existence of impeccable bourgeois conformity. And yet at unguarded moments this model family man is haunted by a sense of emptiness and futility. Then, one night, laden with Christmas presents, he meets Martine. It is time for the sleeper to awake.