‘Colette’, the French novelist and dancer was born on this date in 1873. 10 facts about her:
Colette was actually her surname. Her full name was Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette.
She was born in the village of Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye in the department of Yonne, Burgundy, the daughter of a war hero named Captain Jules-Joseph Colette, who lost a leg at Melegnano in the Second Italian War of Independence. When Colette was born he held the position of the village’s tax collector.
Her first husband was Henry Gauthier-Villars, a journalist and editor known by the pen name Willy. Colette wrote her first novels while married to him, but didn’t get any credit for them. Willy took the credit and the royalties while he would sometimes lock her in a room and not let her out until she had written enough pages to satisfy him.
She escaped this life in 1906 and continued to write on her own terms, but she had no access to her earnings from her earlier books. During this time, she became a music hall performer in order to make a living. Her experience in music hall inspired her 1910 novel The Vagabond.
During this time also, she had lesbian affairs, most notably with fellow actress Mathilde de Morny. Their onstage kiss caused a scandal and after that, the couple had to conduct their affair in secret.
She married again, a man named Henry de Jouvenel who was editor of leading newspaper Le Matin, and was able to arrange for Colette to publish her stories until one serial, called Ripening Seed caused more scandal among readers for being too risqué. This caused a rift between them. Colette had her only child with de Jouvenel at the age of 40. The girl was named Colette but was known as Bel-Gazou (“beautiful babbling/chirping”). Colette, by all accounts, was not a good mother.
At 47 she seduced her stepson, Bertrand de Juvenel, aged 16, which was the final straw leading to divorce.
When she was 52, she started an affair with Maurice Goudeket, who was 16 years younger than she was. This relationship blossomed against all odds, and he became her third husband. He was Jewish and was arrested in 1941 by the Gestapo. Although he was soon released, thanks in part to Colette’s intervention, she lived in fear for the rest of the war that he might be arrested again.
Her most famous novel is probably Gigi, published in 1944 about a French girl training to be a courtesan who falls in love with a wealthy gentleman. Gigi was made into a stage musical and film; the stage production made a star of Audrey Hepburn, who was personally chosen by Colette for the role. Leslie Caron played the title role in the 1958 film.
When she died, she was refused a religious funeral by the Catholic Church because she’d been divorced. However, she was so popular in France that she was given a state funeral. She was the first French woman of letters to be granted the honour, and was interred in Père-Lachaise cemetery.
In the 2018 film Colette, the title character is played by Keira Knightley.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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