Encore Entre Nous: More Advice on Becoming a French Femme
Discover the art of French femininity with Encore Entre Nous—a curated reading list featuring Nancy Mitford's Madame de Pompadour, Antonia Fraser's Marie Antoinette, Diane Johnson's Le Divorce, Anaïs Nin's Henry and June, and Madame Bovary. Explore biographies, fiction, and timeless advice on elegance, allure, and becoming a French femme through these indispensable books.
Book
Le Divorce
by Diane Johnson
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST "If one were to cross Jane Austen and Henry James, the result would be Diane Johnson."—San Francisco Chronicle The national bestseller and inspiration for the major motion picture starring Naomi Watts and Kate Hudson! Called "stylish... refreshing... genuinely wise” by The New York Times Book Review,this delightful comedy of manners and morals, money, marriage, and murder follows smart, sexy, and impeccably dressed American Isabel Walker as she lands in Paris to visit her stepsister Roxy, a poet whose marriage to an aristocratic French painter has assured her a coveted place in Parisian society—until her husband leaves her for the wife of an American lawyer. Could "le divorce" be far behind? Can irrepressible Isabel keep her perspective (and her love life) intact as cultures and human passions collide? "Social comedy at its best" (Los Angeles Times Book Review), Le Divorce is Diane Johnson at her most scintillating and sublime.
Book
Marie Antoinette
by Antonia Fraser
The national bestseller from the acclaimed author of The Wives of Henry VIII. France’s beleaguered queen, Marie Antoinette, wrongly accused of uttering the infamous “Let them eat cake,” was the subject of ridicule and curiosity even before her death; she has since been the object of debate and speculation and the fascination so often accorded tragic figures in history. Married in mere girlhood, this essentially lighthearted, privileged, but otherwise unremarkable child was thrust into an unparalleled time and place, and was commanded by circumstance to play a significant role in history. Antonia Fraser’s lavish and engaging portrait of Marie Antoinette, one of the most recognizable women in European history, excites compassion and regard for all aspects of her subject, immersing the reader not only in the coming-of-age of a graceful woman, buaimedt also in the unraveling of an era.
Book
Henry and June
by Anaïs Nin
A year in the life (1931-1932) of writer Anais Nin when she met Henry Miller and his wife June.
Book
Madame de Pompadour
by Nancy Mitford
When Madame de Pompadour became the mistress of Louis XV, no one expected her to retain his affections for long. A member of the bourgeoisie rather than an aristocrat, she was physically too cold for the carnal Bourbon king, and had so many enemies that she could not travel publicly without risking a pelting of mud and stones. History has loved her little better.Nancy Mitford's delightfully candid biography re-creates the spirit of eighteenth-century Versailles with its love of pleasure and treachery. We learn that the Queen was a "bore," the Dauphin a "prig," and see France increasingly overcome with class conflict. With a fiction writer's felicity, Mitford restores the royal mistress and celebrates her as a survivor, unsurpassed in "the art of living," who reigned as the most powerful woman in France for nearly twenty years.
