Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (Dai)

masochistic (adj.): deriving pleasure from being abused or dominated

somnambulate (v.): walk in one's sleep

plaintive (adj.): expressing sorrow

audacity (n.): aggressive or outright boldness

statutory (adj.): relating to or created by regulations

tryst (n.): a secret rendezvous, especially a romantic one

insidious (adj.): working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way

macabre (adj.): shockingly repellent; inspiring horror

superannuated (adj.): too old to be useful

vertiginous  (adj.): having or causing a whirling sensation; liable to falling

undulate (v.): move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion

sate (v.): fill to contentment

limpid (adj.): clear and bright

surreptitious (adj.): marked by quiet and caution and secrecy

bourgeois (adj.): being of the property-owning class

risible (adj.): arousing or provoking laughter

foist (v.): force onto another

redolent (adj.): having a strong pleasant odor

incognito (adj.): without revealing one's identity

trepidation (n.): a feeling of alarm or dread