Like all of Guy de Maupassant's work, Strong as Death is a poignant and haunting tale. It is a tale of love, life, death, and the mystery of the human heart; a tale of an affair of the heart that cannot stand the light of day -- a profane love that lasts a lifetime, and haunts from beyond the grave… Olivier Bertin, a renowned painter and highly prized by Parisian high society, falls madly in love with one of his models, Countess Anne de Guilleroy, already married of course. They both maintained a passionate relationship for nearly 20 years thanks to the meticulous care of the countess, very jealous, who took care to remove all potential dangers that could threaten her romance and deprive her of her only love…