 He also pursued an unconsummated romantic attachment with the 25-year-old Sophie d'Houdetot, which partly inspired his epistolary novel, "Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse" (also based on memories of his idyllic youthful relationship with Mme de Warens).Sophie was the cousin and houseguest of Rousseau's patroness and landlady Madame d'Épinay, whom he treated rather highhandedly.He resented being at Mme.