The Inevitable

"The Inevitable" by Louis Couperus is a story set within a Roman boarding house in the late 1800s. It centers on Cornélie, a Dutch woman starting over after a divorce, as she grapples with solitude and societal pressures while seeking a fresh sense of self in a new, foreign place; she arrives at Marchesa Belloni's boarding house with both anticipation and a sense of unease, meeting lively characters that highlight different aspects of life in the pension and initiating Cornélie's journey as she faces the pains of the past along with the uncertainties of what is to come.