Rage and Fire — Francine Du Plessix Gray

Acclaimed novelist and essayist Francine du Plessix Gray paints a spirited portrait of a woman who defied the rules and expectations of a misogynistic society to become one of its preeminent writers, as well as the intimate of such great literary figures as Flaubert, Hugo, and Musset. Most English-language readers are familiar with the notoriously tempestuous and beautiful Louise Colet as Gustave Flaubert's only love and his model for Emma Bovary. But in addition, she was, at the summit of her career, one of the most famous female literary figures in France. In describing Colet's ascent to literary fame, Gray draws on Louise Colet's recently discovered journals to capture the spirit of this fiercely independent woman. She also illuminates in vivid detail the intellectual, social, and sexual mores of nineteenth-century France. Written in a richly textured, novelistic style, Rage and Fire brilliantly captures the complexities of a woman who ascended to fame and literary respectability through her talent and a willful spirit that refused to acknowledge the word no.