It tells the story of the orphan Allan who falls in love with his protectress, Mme de Scudemot, who has become indifferent due to erotic excesses in her youth; Allan eventually marries his lover's daughter Camille, but has been smitten by the older woman's indifference.
[1] The novel was written between 1833 and 1836, originally under the title Germaine ou La Pitié.
It was the first full-length novel to be written by Barbey d'Aurevilly, although for a long time it was left unpublished.
[2] An English translation was published in 1902, falsely attributed to Oscar Wilde under his pseudonym Sebastian Melmoth.
[3][4] In his 1967 monograph The Novels and Stories of Barbey D'Aurevilly, Brian G. Rogers wrote about What Never Dies: "Though liberally sprinkled with youthful errors, the novel is the first full-length work to reflect Barbey's enthusiasm for a world completely dominated by passion, and already his treatment of incipient attraction, passionate love and cold disillusion takes on a characteristic flavour.