Colette's France

Book excerpt: ‘A biography as sensuously satisfying as a fine French meal. Colette surely would have approved it as much for its aesthetic appeal as for its rare insight and scholarship.’ Robyn Davidson Colette’s France is the remarkable life story of an extraordinary woman, who was known simply as ‘Colette’. This lavishly illustrated biography of the French writer, who was as famous for her novels as for her often controversial life, follows her journey through the landscapes of France where she lived and loved – from a childhood in Burgundy and coming of age in the Belle Époque Paris, to Provence and St Tropez. Jane Gilmour recounts the varied lives of a sensual, artistic, rebellious woman who lived life on her own terms, from prodigious writer and journalist, risqué performer, lover and seducer, businesswoman, baroness, mother, and finally, grand old lady of letters. Dr Jane Gilmour is an Australian with a personal passion and extensive knowledge of Colette and her life. Jane lived in France for many years where she studied the writer at the Sorbonne and completed her thesis on the writer there. Jane has continued her passion for her subject frequently returning to France to write this book and to visit the regions where Colette lived, loved and worked.