Sunday March 8 International Women’s Rights Day: discover our 5 heroines in the literary news

On the occasion of International Women’s Rights Day, literature more than ever holds up a sensitive mirror to women’s destinies. Whether inspirational authors or novel heroines, these women of paper and pen embody freedom, resilience, passion or transmission. Through their journeys, their struggles and their impulses, each in her own way recounts a facet of the female experience.

Some emerge from history and reinvent our view of mythical figures, others impose themselves in contemporary narratives where the intimate dialogues with the world. There are those who resist convention, those who pass on knowledge, those who explore the complexity of emotions and those who rewrite their own destiny. What they all have in common is a narrative power that captivates the reader.
From Venice at the turn of the XIXᵉ century to the silent gardens of Provence, from historical intrigues to tales of initiation, these five books invite us to journey into very different worlds, but always carried by striking female characters. Strong figures, sometimes troubling, often luminous, who question our certainties and awaken our imaginations.

To celebrate this day dedicated to women, we have selected five recent books in which the heroines, or those who tell their stories, play the leading role. Readings that inspire, question and remind us that literature remains one of the most beautiful territories for making women’s voices heard.

“I wanted to live”, Adélaïde de Clermont-Tonnerre.

Absolutely fascinating!

Éditions Grasset – Prix Renaudot

In her novels, Adélaïde de Clermont-Tonnerre has the art of sublimating her characters. Often flamboyant, free-spirited women. What a fabulous idea, in fact, to focus on the incandescent Milady de Winter, Alexandre Dumas’s most evil heroine!

Poisoner, spy, sorceress, this woman is the Devil herself in “The Three Musketeers”. But how to explain the hatred and desire for vengeance surrounding her? This Machiavelli in petticoats fuels the drama in Dumas’ work. But hasn’t she suffered too? Wasn’t she betrayed and abused by tyrants? Yet nothing can excuse her murders. Didn’t we cry when she killed Constance Bonacieux?
In our childhood imaginations, it was unthinkable that anything could go wrong with d’Artagnan’s beloved. But the intelligence, mystery and charisma embodied by the schemer made her captivating. For what reason?
Adélaïde de Clermont-Tonnerre had to pick up where Dumas left off, by focusing on Anne de Breuil, known as Milady de Winter.
The author then draws us into an epic novel, delving into the crucial aspects of the beauty’s life, giving her a voice right up to her “trial”. Here we meet the protagonists of her story.

“Le Sigisbée”, Mathilde Desaché

A well-documented novel about a little-known page in Italian history.

Éditions Finitude

Italy 1798. Fiestas follow one another in sumptuous Venice. In high society, it’s customary for a husband who is often absent to take a sigisbee. A companion attentive to a wife’s every wish. A knight in shining armor, in fact. This is how trios sometimes coexist, and not without pain. Caterina Querini is one such woman.
But at the dawn of the nineteenth century, the Serenissima was losing its lustre. The heroine, now a refugee in a convent, invites the reader to follow her frustrated epistolary exchanges in search of her beloved daughter. Giulia had disappeared fifteen years earlier, kidnapped by her French sigisbee, François de la Motte, one of her two fathers. Disturbing. Could the little girl be more French than Venetian? How to find out? Will the child-turned-woman see her mother again?

“The gardener’s cat”, Thomas Schlesser

A remedy for all ills!

Éditions Albin Michel

Louis is a gardener. Empathetic by nature, he’s keen to take care of those around him. However, he has become withdrawn ever since he learned that his cat is suffering from an incurable tumor. Aware of the great fires raging in his region, Provence, he is tuned in to the silent world of forests and animals. But it’s Thalie, Nikolai’s neighbor and friend, who arouses his curiosity.
For Nikolai, a self-taught man, she possesses the finest of knowledge: language.
This former French teacher senses Louis’ fragility. Together, they seal a pact: the teacher will open him up to poetry while he rebuilds his garden, devastated by the storm.
They will declaimthe most beautiful poems by Rilke, Rimbaud, Marie de France…
Thalie will teach him about poetic trends through the biographies of their authors.
What a liberating effect for Louis! What an opening onto a happiness that was foreign to him!
The pensioner, who has the art and manner of transmitting, will rescue her pupil from his torpor and restore his taste for the Living.

“Shine!”, Hélène Meillard

A sparkling interlude from a luminous author!

Éditions Robert Laffont

It’s customary not to introduce yourself by saying “delighted”. Did you know that? That’s what you may discover when you read Hélène Meillard’s distillation of the art of elegance and good taste.
The chic influencer and Instagram star, who posts in cocktail dresses, shares her rules of savoir-être.
From the correct use of vocabulary to fashion. From correspondence to the art of the table, not forgetting a few recipes that are sure to impress your guests, you’ll know how to remain dignified without going overboard in all circumstances.

L’Attrape-mots”, Gilles Paris

A poetic nugget!

Éditions Héloïse d’Ormesson

Jade is a hypersensitive teenager in a suffering family. To compensate for her melancholy, she invents herself a novelist. A compulsive reader, she builds her life around J. D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye”, whose hero becomes her imaginary friend.
Jade writes her life, shaping it as she pleases, as the days and events go by, always incorporating Holden Caulfield. It’s not all real, but it’s such a beautiful journey! We’re a little bewildered! But Jade will grow up. Will she reveal the truth? Unless it’s one of her loved ones who’s in for an unexpected fall.
A breath of fresh air blows through this book, imbued with the characters from “L’Attrape-coeurs”! Jade’s dream is infectious. It takes us back to our fragile adolescence, with its contradictions and nostalgia.

Thank you to Marie-Laure Vallée for these valuable literary recommendations. A loyal member of the Paris Select community to follow on her insta Livrissime account.

You’ll also love our selection of romance novels