So you've been struck by Cupid's arrow, and it hurts, right? Well, for company during your lovesick blues, you could do no better than read about the poet-hero of Edmond Rostand's 19th-century play "Cyrano de Bergerac," which is now available in an exquisitely translated storybook version told by Geraldine McCaughrean.
Cyrano -- he of the large nose and a larger heart -- is madly in love with his beautiful cousin, Roxane. But what most people wouldn't ever guess -- save for his close friend, le Bret -- is that Cyrano, the man with a wit sharp enough to match his sword, is afraid to declare his love because of the monstrous size of his olfactory organ, a.k.a. his nose. He reasons: How can the most beautiful woman in town return the love of a man so ugly?