Marguerite Duras in Saigon

The picture of her above appeared on the 1985 Pantheon edition of her novel, "The Lover."

According to Mary Cregan, writing in the September 8, 2008 Financial Times, "the photograph dates from the period when, as a schoolgirl in Saigon [in the late 1920s], she had a long affair with a wealthy Chinese man."

The fictionalized story of her romance "... resulted in sales of more than a million copies in 43 languages, as well as a movie; a stunning comeback for an artist in her 70s who less than two years before "The Lover" was published had nearly killed herself with drink."

Duras (below)

died in 1996 at the age of 81.