“She was a poet’s dream... give her alms,” says the old romance. In fact, this is a brief summary of the charming novel by Maurice Druon “The Voluptuousness of Being”, where the image of the main character, Countess Lucrezia Sanziani, is inspired by a real woman - Marchioness Louise Casati, a beauty who for many years awestruck all of Europe. In the novel, this is an eccentric, almost detached from reality, elderly lady, for whom the voluptuousness of existence, which once permeated every second of a fantastic life, was replaced by sweet memories that became her only reality. This publication also includes juicy, bright, full of fiction stories by M. Druon from collections “Lords of the Expanses”, “The Happiness of Some”, “The Misfortune of Others”, created by the writer in line with the great tradition of French short stories. It was the works of small forms that anticipated the master’s literary success.