The Passion (novel)

[2] Publication and subsequent sales of the novel allowed Winterson to stop working other jobs, and support herself as a full-time writer.

After Henri and his companions participate in the French invasion of Russia, two of them decide to desert, along with one of the vivandieres (prostitutes) that was accompanying the army.

The novel dives into Villanelle's backstory, revealing that she previously worked in a casino, had fallen in love and had an affair with a married noblewoman, and ended up accepting a deal to marry a violent man who then traded her into prostitution.

When her ex-husband attempts to murder her, Henri kills him, and is imprisoned in a stony prison near Venice.

While Henri comes from a small French Catholic village, described as lukewarm, whose hearts were only set on fire by Napoleon, Villanelle's hometown of Venice is described as a people conversant with passion, who play with chance and desire deftly but without real commitment.