Set in Victorian England, The French Lieutenant’s Woman is a richly layered novel that follows Charles Smithson, a gentleman engaged to a respectable fiancée, whose life changes after he becomes fascinated by the mysterious and socially isolated Sarah Woodruff. Blending romance, history, psychology, and metafiction, John Fowles challenges traditional storytelling while exploring freedom, love, class, and personal choice. Intelligent and deeply atmospheric, the novel is regarded as a masterpiece of modern literary fiction.