Character Catalog

First novel in the Claudine series, published under the name Willy. This story of a mischievous young girl in a rural setting was an immediate popular success and launched a true Claudine craze.

Autobiographical novel about a divorced woman who earns her living in music hall. A pioneering work on female independence and the freedom of romantic choice.

Novel exploring the love affair between Léa, an aging courtesan, and the young Chéri. A masterpiece of psychological subtlety, praised by Proust and Gide.

A collection of childhood memories set in Burgundy, celebrating the maternal figure of Sido and the happiness of a youth spent close to nature.

A literary portrait of her mother, Sido, considered one of her finest texts. A vibrant tribute to a free-spirited woman, passionate about nature and life.

A short novel in which a young newlywed prefers his cat Saha to his wife. A subtle exploration of jealousy and the bond between humans and animals.

A novella recounting the coming-of-age of a young girl raised to become a courtesan. Adapted for the screen in 1958, the film won nine Academy Awards.

My mother let them talk and did not answer. But she looked over her glasses, around her, at the garden, with an air of happy complicity.

Sido, my mother, could not see a flower without touching it, nor a child without caressing it, nor a fruit without biting into it. She was lavish with everything she possessed.

These pleasures that are called, so lightly, physical… Only the animal is pure.

I write still, because it is the only thing I know how to do a little better each day, and also because I cannot move from this divan where arthritis keeps me nailed.

Colette's birthplace in Burgundy, where she spent a happy childhood with her mother Sido. The family home is now a museum dedicated to the writer.

Colette lived in an apartment overlooking the gardens of the Palais-Royal from 1927 until her death in 1954. It was there that she wrote her last works from her famous daybed.

Famous Parisian cabaret where Colette performed as a mime and dancer between 1906 and 1911, drawing both admiration and scandal.

Colette's holiday home in Saint-Tropez, acquired in 1926. There she found Mediterranean inspiration for several of her works, celebrating the light and nature of Provence.

Colette's burial place following her state funeral in 1954. Her grave remains a place of pilgrimage for her admirers.

Colette wrote exclusively on blue letter paper, a habit she kept throughout her life that became her trademark as a writer.

Often working at night or from her daybed, Colette wrote by the soft light of a desk lamp, creating the intimate atmosphere suited to her sensory style of writing.

Colette was a passionate cat lover. She always kept them close and devoted many pages to them, notably in La Chatte and Dialogues de bêtes.

In 1932, Colette opened a beauty institute in Paris where she sold her own cosmetic products, reflecting her taste for body care and the senses.

In her later years, immobilized by arthritis, Colette wrote from a daybed set up near the window of her Palais-Royal apartment, which she called her raft.

Colette collected glass paperweights, particularly crystal balls, to which she devoted fine descriptions in her later writings.