My friend Ed got hitched this weekend and everyone had a Penguin Classic as their place setting.

Mine was Guy de Maupassant’s Femme Fatale, a collection of four short stories all of which touch on 19th century sex. There’s plenty of trembling, sighing and crushed linen, along with a bit of prostitution in a Paris cemetary and a couple of lesbians.

It’s my friend Ed’s idea of a little joke, but he’s a lawyer and they don’t get out much.